IRLF 


SB 


GEORGE   WHARTON   JAMES 


GIFT  OF 


(Oz. 


THE  STORY  OF  CAPTAIN 
THE  HORSE  WITH  THE  HUMAN  BRAIN 


THE  STORY  OF 


CAPTAIN 

THE  HORSE  WITH  THE  HUMAN  BRAIN 
GEORGE  WHARTON  JAMES 


Author  of  The  Story  of  Scraggles  ;  California,  Romantic  and  Beautiful  ; 

Living  the  Radiant  Life  ;  Quit  Your  Worrying  ;  Indian  Basketry  ; 

In  and  Out  of  the  Old  Missions  of  California,  etc.,  etc. 


1917 

THE  RADIANT  LIFE  PRESS 
Pasadena,  California 


BOOKS  BY  GEORGE  WHARTON  JAMES 


QUIT  YOUR  WORRYING 

LIVING  THE  RADIANT  LIFE 

ARIZONA,  THE  WONDERLAND 

CALIFORNIA,  THE  ROMANTIC  AND  BEAUTIFUL 

PICTURESQUE  PAL  A 

ROSE  HARTWICK  THORPE  AND  THE  STORY  OF  "CURFEW  MUST  NOT 

RING  TONIGHT" 

WINTER  SPORTS  IN  THE  HIGH  SIERRAS 
OVER  THE  APACHE  TRAIL  IN  ARIZONA 
IN  AND  AROUND  THE  GRAND  CANYON 
IN  AND  OUT  OF  THE  OLD  MISSIONS 
INDIAN  BASKETRY 
PRACTICAL  BASKET  MAKING 
THE  INDIANS  OF  THE  PAINTED  DESERT  REGION 
THE  STORY  OF  SCRAGGLES 
THROUGH  RAMONA'S  COUNTRY 
THE  WONDERS  OF  THE  COLORADO  DESERT 
THE  INDIANS'  SECRETS  OF  HEALTH 
THE  HEROES  OF  CALIFORNIA 
THE  CALIFORNIA  BIRTHDAY  BOOK 
THE  HOUSE  BLESSING  CEREMONY  AND  GUEST  BOOK 
EXPOSITION  MEMORIES 

CHARLES  WARREN  STODDARD— AN  APPRECIATION 
THE  LAKE  OF  THE  SKY— LAKE  TAHOE 
OUR  AMERICAN  WONDERLANDS 
RECLAIMING  THE  ARID  DESERTS 
LITTLE  JOURNEYS  TO  STRANGE  PLACES  AND  PEOPLES 
THE  FRANCISCAN  MISSIONS  OF  CALIFORNIA 
THE  GRAND  CANYON  OF  ARIZONA— HOW  TO  SEE  IT 
INDIAN  BLANKETS  AND  THEIR  MAKERS 


Further  particulars  of  these  books  may  be  had  by  addressing  the  Radiant  Life  Press, 
1098  North  Raymond  Avenue,  Pasadena,  California 


DEDICATION 

TO  ALL  HORSES  PATIENTLY  SERVING  MAN, 

TO  ALL  MANKIND  HUMAN  ENOUGH  TO  LOVE  HORSES  J 

WHO  GRATEFULLY  CARE  FOR  THEM  IN  RETURN  FOR  THEIR  SERVICES, 

AND  WHO  EARNESTLY  STRIVE  TO  GAIN  A  BETTER  UNDERSTANDING  OF  THEM, 

THESE  PAPERS  ARE  CORDIALLY  DEDICATED 

BY  ONE  WHO  AIMS  TO  BE 

The  Friend  of  All  Living  Things. 


358446 


Copyright,  1917 
By  EDITH  E.  FARNSWORTH 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 7 

Chapter     I.     CAPTAIN'S  OWN  STORY 15 

Chapter   II.     How  I  BOUGHT  AND  TRAINED  CAPTAIN     .  30 

Chapter  III.     A  SCIENTIFIC  INVESTIGATION        ...  42 

(By  Dr.  G.  V.  Hamilton) 

Chapter  IV.    CAPTAIN'S  PRAYER  OF  THANKSGIVING        .  47 

ILLUSTRATIONS 
CAPTAIN  SIGSBEE,  CAPTAIN,  AND  His  GROOM     .      Frontispiece 

CAPTAIN  ON  THE  STAGE 8 

MADAME  ELLIS  GIVING  HER  PERFORMANCE       ...  9 

ELLEN  BEACH  YAW  SINGING  TO  CAPTAIN      ....  40 

CAPTAIN  AWAKENING  His  GROOM 41 

CAPTAIN  AND  His  FRIENDS  AT  SAN  DIEGO    ....  49 
CAPTAIN  AND  GEORGE  WHARTON  JAMES  WITH  THE 

PIGEONS  50 


INTRODUCTION 

Early  in  the  year  1915  I  was  called  to  lecture  on  California 
and  the  West  in  the  beautiful  Sunset  Theater  of  the  Southern 
Pacific  Building  at  the  San  Francisco  Exposition.  In  taking 
a  survey  of  the  Zone  I  was  soon  attracted  to  a  gigantic  horse 
in  process  of  manufacture  out  of  wood  and  plaster,  and  a 
placard  before  it  indicated  that  a  trained  horse  would  soon  be 
shown  here.  Being  fond  of  animals,  naturally,  and  having 
seen  and  read  considerably  of  trained  horses,  I  was  ready  for 
the  first  opening  of  this  show,  and  there  was  introduced  to 
CAPTAIN,  the  educated  horse,  or,  as  he  has  been  termed, 
"the  horse  with  the  human  brain."  My  opinions  as  to  the 
quality  of  Captain's  intelligence  I  have  recorded  later,  but  his 
first  performance  was  a  delight  to  me.  His  appearance  was 
pleasing.  He  looked  well  cared  for,  contented,  happy  and  will- 
ing to  go  through  his  exhibition.  There  was  none  of  the  hold- 
ing back,  the  whipping,  the  sharp  orders,  the  ugly  looks  one  so 
generally  sees  on  the  faces  of  "trained  animals"  when  they  are 
being  put  through  their  tricks.  Most  of  these  poor  creatures 
show  so  manifestly  that  they  are  trapped,  are  made  to  do  what 
they  do  not  like,  and  that  they  resent  it,  that  I  seldom  can  toler- 
ate the  sight  of  their  anger  and  humiliation — for  that  is  clearly 
what  nearly  every  animal  reveals  to  me  at  these  exhibitions. 
Here,  on  the  other  hand,  was  an  animal  that  enjoyed  his  work. 
He  treated  it  as  fun ;  just  as  my  own  Arab  colt  treats  a  free  run 
and  then  being  led  into  his  corral  and  being  petted.  After  a 
little  pleasantry  his  master  asked  him  to  count  the  number  of 
ladies  on  the  front  row.  Captain's  eyes  at  once  began  at  one 
end,  followed  the  row,  down  to  the  other  end,  and,  by  pawing, 
he  told  the  number.  Several  similar  questions  were  asked,  as, 
for  instance,  how  many  gentlemen  in  the  second  row;  how 
many  women  along  the  aisle;  how  many  girls,  or  boys,  in  the 
second  or  third  rows,  etc.,  and  in  every  case  Captain  gave  the 
answer  correctly. 

Then  a  standard  was  brought  forward  containing  numbers, 
to  which  were  attached  leather  lugs  or  holders.  These  were 
held  in  the  standard,  or  rack,  and  placed  without  any  relative 
order,  and  scores  of  later  observations,  have  convinced  me 

[7] 


that  there  is  no  order  in  which  they  can  be  placed  that  makes 
any  difference  to  Captain.  Here  he  showed  his  familiarity  with 
numbers,  bringing  from  the  rack  any  one  called  for.  Then 
tests  in  arithmetic  were  applied,  such  as  the  addition  of  num- 
bers as  9  plus  6  plus  7.  Captain  at  once  picked  out  the  figure 
2  and  then  after  dropping  it,  picked  it  up  and  showed  it  again. 
Subtraction  was  equally  well  performed,  and  multiplication 
up  to  12  times  12,  and  the  answers  given  were  invariably 
correct. 

In  giving  the  answers  he  pawed  with  one  of  his  front  feet, 
but  at  the  request  of  his  master  would  give  a  portion  of  the 
answer  with  one  foot,  and  the  remainder  with  another,  even 
alternating  in  his  use  of  his  hind  feet. 

A  number  of  simple  commands  were  now  given,  and  ques- 
tions asked  to  which  the  horse  responded  with  a  shake  of  the 
head  for  No,  or  a  nod  for  Yes.  He  would  take  a  seat  when 
requested,  scratch  his  head  with  right  or  left  hind  foot,  show 
either  right  or  left  foot  when  required,  or  stamp  with  right  or 
left  foot  when  required,  or  stamp  with  right  or  left  hindfoot 
as  asked.  When  told  to  pump  water  he  would  swing  his  head 
up  and  down  continuously,  and  he  would  swing  his  head  to 
right  and  left  as  commanded.  When  asked  to  laugh  he  opened 
his  mouth  and  showed  his  teeth,  and  he  wiggled  his  ears  with 
equal  readiness.  When  told  to  put  out  his  tongue  it  came  out 
immediately,  and  when  commanded  to  make  a  hobby-horse  of 
himself  he  planted  his  hindfeet  firmly  and  then  proceeded  to 
stretch  himself  by  planting  his  forefeet  as  far  ahead  as  he 
could. 

He  was  then  required  to  make  a  corkscrew  of  himself,  and 
placing  all  four  feet  together,  moved  around  in  corkscrew 
motion.  At  the  command:  "Reverse!"  he  immediately  went 
in  the  opposite  direction. 

Then  came  an  exhibition  of  Captain's  recognition  of  colors. 
A  rack  containing  ten  or  fifteen  colored  cloths  was  placed 
before  the  audience.  The  horse  was  asked  to  go  and  pick  out, 
say,  the  third  lady  in  the  second  row,  look  at  the  color  of  her 
hat  (or  shawl,  dress,  gloves  or  other  article  of  apparel),  and 
then  take  up  the  cloth  from  the  rack  which  corresponded  to 
the  color  of  the  article  worn.  In  this  he  seldom  made  mistakes. 

Now  a  blindfold  exhibition  was  given.  As  his  master  ex- 
plained, this  fully  precluded  the  possibility  of  any  collusion — 
at  least  as  far  as  Captain's  seeing  any  signal  was  concerned. 
The  blindfold  was  a  leather  mask,  held  in  place  by  the  ears  and 
a  supporting  and  fastening  strap,  the  leather  completely  cover- 
ing the  eyes. 

[8] 


U    v- 

i! 


4  J 

.    o 


II 
If 


S  B 
II 


I 


All  the  various  commands  of  "Pump,"  "Wiggle  your  ears," 
"Laugh,"  "Put  our  your  tongue,"  "Corkscrew,"  "Say  Yes!" 
"No !"  were  given  and  immediately  and  correctly  responded  to. 
Then  Captain  was  asked  to  bite  his  right  knee,  lift  up  his  left 
foot,  scratch  his  head  with  his  rear  left,  or  right  foot,  etc. 

Numbers  were  now  called  for,  addition,  subtraction  and 
multiplication  required,  and  the  answers  beaten  out,  or  pawed, 
with  whatever  foot  was  suggested. 

Then  his  memory  was  tested.  A  red  cloth  was  tied  to  his 
right  foreknee,  and  a  white  one  on  his  left  hind  leg.  As  the 
tying  was  done  his  master  carefully  cautioned  him  not  to  for- 
get. Now  for  a  few  minutes,  he  was  kept  occupied  with  num- 
bers, and  then  was  asked  for  the  white  cloth,  afterwards  for 
the  red  one.  In  both  cases  he  gave  whichever  was  called  for. 
But  it  should  be  noted  that  in  neither  case  did  Mr.  Sigsbee 
give  him  the  command.  Someone  in  the  audience  was  asked 
to  call  for  whichever  colored  cloth  he  desired,  and  on  several 
occasions  I  made  the  request  myself.  The  blindfold  was  now 
removed. 

The  exhibition  with  the  Cash  Register  then  followed,  Cap- 
tain being  asked  to  get  a  paper  dollar,  then  change  it  for  small 
silver,  when  he  brought  out  half  a  dollar  and  two  quarters. 
There  were  many  variations  of  the  use  of  money  to  all  of 
which  requests  he  responded  with  accuracy. 

Then  he  was  called  to  the  chimes  and  the  audience  was  in- 
formed that  Captain  could  play  "Nearer,  My  God  to  Thee," 
or  "The  Suwanee  River,"  and  it  could  make  its  choice.  The 
former  tune  was  called  for  and  Captain  played  it  correctly,  as 
far  as  the  notes  were  concerned,  though  the  time  was  not, 
indeed  could  not  have  been,  followed,  as  the  clapper  was  moved 
by  an  upward  thrust  of  the  horse's  nose  upon  a  lever. 

These,  in  the  main,  were  his  achievements.  They  delighted, 
yet,  at  the  same  time,  puzzled  me.  How  did  he  accomplish 
them?  By  the  kindness  of  his  owner,  Mr.  W.  A.  Sigsbee,  I 
was  permitted  to  visit  Captain  in  his  stall  as  often  as  I  chose. 
As  I  got  to  know  him  better  my  interest  increased,  until  I 
decided  that  I  should  like  to  write  his  story.  After  talking  the 
matter  over  with  Mr.  Sigsbee,  he  was  quite  willing,  but,  some- 
how, my  year  in  San  Francisco  was  so  crowded  that  the  great 
Exposition  closed  without  this  pleasing  task  being  accomplished. 

The  following  year  we  met  again,  however,  at  the  Panama- 
California  International  Exposition,  in  San  Diego,  and  there 
I  seized  the  time  necessary  to  write  the  following  story. 

While  I  cannot  say  with  Homer  Davenport  that  I  have  been 
so  profoundly  interested  in  horses  that  at  three  years  and  nine 

[9] 


months  old  I  drew  illustrations  of  Arab  horses,  I  can  say  with 
truth  that  I  have  always  been  interested  in  any  animal  that 
showed  any  approach  to  what  is  generally  regarded  as  human 
intelligence.  I  was  born  and  brought  up  as  a  good  Methodist. 
God,  to  me,  was  the  Creator  of  all  things,  and  however  my 
belief  in  other  matters  of  religion  may  have  been  modified  or 
altered,  in  that  particular  I  believe  as  I  have  ever  believed. 
If,  then,  God  is  the  Creator  of  all  things,  animate  and  inani- 
mate, every  creature  high  or  low,  is  a  manifestation  of  His 
thought,  His  care,  His  love,  and  all  are  born — created — of  the 
same  Spirit,  and  therefore,  are  akin.  To  me  this  is  a  truth 
more  powerful  than  mere  logic  can  ever  make  it.  There  is  a 
Spirit  within  me — of  the  Creator,  undoubtedly — that  bears 
witness  to  this  truth.  Hence  I  know  no  difference  between  the 
spirit  in  the  horse  and  that  in  the  man,  except  in  the  degree 
of  its  outward  manifestation.  However,  my  good  friend,  John 
Burroughs,  writes : 

We  know  that  the  animals  do  not  think  in  any  proper  sense  as  we 
do,  or  have  concepts  and  ideas,  because  they  have  no  language.  Think- 
ing in  any  proper  sense  is  impossible  without  language ;  the  language  is 
the  concept  Our  ideas  are  as  inseparable  from  the  words  as  form  is 
from  substance.  We  may  have  impressions,  perceptions,  emotions, 
without  language,  but  not  ideas.  The  child  perceives  things,  discrimi- 
nates things,  knows  its  mother  from  a  stranger,  is  angry,  or  glad,  or 
afraid,  long  before  it  has  any  'language  or  any  proper  concepts.  Ani- 
mals know  only  things  through  their  senses,  and  this  "Knowledge  is 
restricted  to  things  present  in  time  and  space."  Reflection,  or  a  return 
upon  themselves  in  thought,— of  this  they  are  not  capable.  Their  only 
language  consists  of  various  cries  and  calls,  expressions  of  pain,  alarm, 
joy,  love,  anger.  They  communicate  with  each  other  and  come  to  share 
each  other's  mental  or  emotional  states,  through  these  cries  and  calls. 
A  dog  barks  in  various  tones  also,  each  of  which  expresses  a  different 
feeling  in  the  dog.  .  .  .  The  lowing  and  bellowing  of  horned  cattle 
are  expressions  of  several  different  things.  The  crow  has  many  caws, 
that  no  doubt  convey  various  meanings.  The  cries  of  alarm  and  dis- 
tress of  the  birds  are  understood  by  all  the  wild  creatures  that  hear 
them ;  a  feeling  of  alarm  is  conveyed  to  them — an  emotion,  not  an  idea. 
We  evolve  ideas  from  our  emotions,  and  emotions  are  often  begotten 
by  our  ideas.  A  fine  spring  morning  or  a  prospect  from  a  mountain 
top  makes  one  glad,  and  this  gladness  may  take  an  intellectual  form. 
But  without  language  this  gladness  could  not  take  form  in  ideal  con- 
cepts. .  .  .  We  have  only  to  think  of  the  animals  as  habitually  in 
a  condition  analagous  to  or  identical  with  the  unthinking  and  involun- 
tary character  of  much  of  our  lives.  They  are  creatures  of  routine. 
They  are  wholly  immersed  in  the  unconscious,  involuntary  nature  out 
of  which  we  rise,  and  above  which  our  higher  lives  go  on.* 

This  logic  seems  complete  and  unassailable.  Yet,  neverthe- 
less, there  is  within  me  something  that  is  not  satisfied.  I  grant 
Burroughs  the  argument,  and  then  fall  back  upon  my  own 
inner  consciousness  with  reasoning  somewhat  after  this  line: 

*"Do  Animals  Think,"  Harper's  Monthly,  Vol.  110,  p.  358. 
[10] 


We  do  not  now  know  the  language  of  the  animals ;  we  do  not 
know  whether  they  have  one  or  not.  Their  lives  seem  im- 
prisoned within  the  dark  pent-house  of  brute-life  where  no 
gleam  of  our  kind  of  intellectual  light  reaches  them.  But  may 
it  not  be  that  they  feel  this  imprisonment  and  are  striving  to 
escape  from  it.  The  Indians  have  many  legends  that  speak 
of  a  time  when  gods,  men,  animals  and  all  nature  had  a  com- 
mon tongue.  May  this  not  be  true,  or  if  not  true  of  the  past, 
a  vision  of  the  natural  outgrowth  of  the  future?  If  God  be 
the  Creator  He  must  comprehend  all  His  creation.  As  we 
approximate  nearer  to  Him — and  Browning  asserts  we  are  all 
gods,  though  in  the  germ — may  we  not  begin  to  understand 
more  fully  the  languageless  animals? 

Our  acceptance  of  the  Hebraic  Law  as  set  forth  in  the  Old 
Testament  has  made  us  look  upon  the  animals  as  created 
solely  for  our  benefit,  ours  to  use  just  as  we  choose.  Unfortu- 
nately this  power  to  use  has  given  to  those  with  small  modicum 
of  kindness  in  their  disposition  the  feeling  that  they  are  also 
within  their  manly  rights  to  misuse  the  animals.  Considering 
the  greatness  of  the  Universe  and  the  finiteness  of  man  as 
compared  with  the  whole,  does  not  this  idea  seem  preposterous  ? 

The  Buddhist  and  Hindu  religions  teach  that  all  life  is  One — 
that  on  its  journey  from  unconsciousness  to  self-consciousness 
it  passes  through  all  the  kingdoms  of  nature, — mineral,  vege- 
table, molluscar,  reptilian,  bird,  animal,  human,  up  to  super- 
human. They  say  about  this  life  that  "it  sleeps  in  the  mineral, 
dreams  in  the  flowers,  awakens  in  the  animal,  and  becomes 
active  in  the  human."  Hence  the  Hindu  treats  the  animals  as 
his  younger  brothers,  and  the  slaughter  and  abuse  of  them 
tolerated  and  practiced  in  the  West  is  practically  unknown  in 
the  East,  except  where  the  so-called  Western  civilization  has 
intruded.  This  view,  too,  would  transcend  the  arguments  and 
logic  of  Burroughs. 

Then,  too,  may  it  not  be  our  privilege  to  help  the  animals 
escape  from  their  dark  prison  cell  into  the  light  of  mental  exer- 
cise? I  see  no  reason  why  animals  should  not  evolve,  ascend 
in  the  scale,  and  develop  language,  reason,  concepts,  ideas,  as 
well  as  man.  It  is  certainly  going  to  do  no  harm  to  believe  it 
possible,  to  hope  for  it,  and  to  work  for  it.  Love  is  a  great 
revelator  in  many  ways,  and  the  love  of  man,  intelligently  exer- 
cised in  relationship  to  animals,  may  be  of  wonderful  help  in 
opening  the  door  of  their  brute  prison-houses. 

Hence,  I  hail  every  effort,  whether  of  child  with  its  pet,  shep- 
herd with  his  dog,  woman  with  her  parrot,  or  educated  scholar 
with  his  horses,  to  find  the  way  that  shall  help  the  animal  know 
his  kinship  with  the  human.  Too  long  have  we  assumed  that 

[11] 


there  was  no  crossing  the  gulf  between  the  animal  and  the 
human.  Man's  assumptions  have  shut  knowledge  away  from 
him.  Instead  of  "assuming"  that  the  horse  had  no  intelli- 
gence why  did  he  not  go  to  work  scientifically  to  find  out  what 
he  did  have?  Just  as  Sir  John  Lubbock  experimented  with 
all  kinds  of  creatures  as  to  their  powers  of  taste,  smell,  touch, 
etc.,  only  in  a  larger  and  higher  way,  man  might  have  tested 
the  intelligence  of  horses,  and  then  sought  to  improve  it. 

There  is  too  much  assumption  in  human  beings  about  most 
things, — animal  instinct  and  human  reason  not  excluded. 
What  I  wish  to  protest  against,  with  emphasis  and  vigor,  is 
the  assumption  that  we  know  all  there  is  to  know  about  intelli- 
gence— that  we  know  the  limits  Nature  herself  has  placed  upon 
its  development,  and  that  all  efforts  to  foster  further  develop- 
ment are  useless.  I  affirm  that  we  do  not  know ;  that  we  have 
never,  as  yet,  even  tried  to  know;  and  that  until  men  with 
loving,  devoted,  sympathetic  singleness  of  heart  and  purpose 
seek  to  develop  all  there  is  in  the  mentality  of  all  the  lower 
animals, — dogs,  cats,  deer,  as  well  as  horses, — shall  we  begin 
to  have  a  real  foundation  for  our  assumptions  upon  the  subject. 

I  am  still  simple  enough  to  believe  implicitly  in  the  Spiritual 
Controller  of  the  Universe  we  call  God.  I  am  still  enamoured 
of  the  belief  that  as  Browning  says  in  "Saul" 

God  made  all  the  creatures  and  gave  them  our  love  and  our  fear, 
To  give  sign,  we  and  they  are  His  children,  one  family  here. 

Romanes  claims  for  the  horse  an  intelligence  less  than  that 
of  the  larger  carnivora,  the  elephant,  or  even  the  ass.  Yet  he 
asserts  that  the  emotional  life  of  the  horse  is  remarkable,  and 
that  working  through  the  emotions  wonderful  results  of  train- 
ing have  been  secured.  He  says  it  is  an  affectionate  animal, 
pleased  at  being  petted,  jealous  of  companions  receiving  favor, 
greatly  enjoying  play  with  others  of  its  kind,  and  thoroughly 
entering  into  the  sport  of  the  hunting-field.  Horses  also  ex- 
hibit pride  in  a  marked  degree,  as  also  do  mules,  being  unmis- 
takably pleased  with  gay  trappings. 

Now  is  it  inconceivable  that  these  animals  might  some  day, 
somehow,  find  a  door  open  whereby  they  could  enter  into  the 
realm  of  speech.  To  feel  is  certainly  a  large  step  towards 
expression,  and  to  my  mind,  the  possession  of  the  one  power 
suggests  the  close  proximity  of  the  other. 

I  read  with  great  interest  the  arguments — as  different  from 
the  mere  assumptions — of  those  who  assert  that  the  instinct  of 
animals,  and  the  reason  of  human  beings,  are  two  separate 
and  distinct  things;  there  is  a  deep  gulf  between  them  which 
can  never  be  passed  by  the  lower  order.  I  do  not  believe  this. 
Rather  do  I  hold  with  Romanes  that: 

[12] 


No  distinct  line  can  be  drawn  between  instinct  and  reason.  Whether 
we  look  to  the  growing  child  or  to  the  ascending  scale  of  animal  life,  we 
find  that  instinct  shades  into  reason  by  inperceptible  degrees. 

Instinct  certainly  involves  some  kind  of  mental  operations, 
and  by  this  feature  it  is  clearly  distinguished  and  differen- 
tiated from  reflex  action.  One  bold  difference  between  instinct 
and  reason,  I  contend,  is  that  the  actions  of  instinct  are  uni- 
form, though  performed  by  different  individuals  of  the  same 
species,  while  reason — however  limited  in  its  operations — leads 
to  the  performance  of  individualistic  actions,  limited  to  single 
personalities.  Instinct  implies  "mental  action  directed  towards 
the  accomplishment  of  adaptive  movement,  antecedent  to  indi- 
vidual experience,  without  necessary  knowledge  of  the  relation 
between  the  means  employed  and  the  ends  attained,  but  simi- 
larly performed  under  the  same  appropriate  circumstances  by 
all  the  individuals  of  the  same  species."* 

In  all  these  particulars  instinct  differs  from  reason,  in  that 
it,  "besides  involving  a  mental  constituent,  and  besides  being 
concerned  in  adaptive  action,  is  always  subsequent  to  individual 
experience,  never  acts  but  upon  a  definite  and  often  laboriously 
acquired  knowledge  of  the  relation  between  means  and  ends, 
and  is  very  far  from  being  always  similarly  performed  under 
the  same  appropriate  circumstances  by  all  the  individuals  of 
the  same  species. "f 

Where  there  is  an  intentional  adaptation  of  means  to  ends 
there  is  clear  indication  of  reason.  This  adaptation  I  claim 
Captain  possesses,  as  distinctively,  though  of  course  on  a  much 
lower  plane  than  I  myself  possess  it.  For  instance :  When 
Captain,  of  his  own  volition,  after  finding  his  groom  asleep 
after  being  awakened,  went  to  him  again  and  pulled  the  covers 
from  his  bed,  that  may  have  been  accident  the  first  time.  It 
led  to  the  groom's  awakening,  arising  and  feeding  the  horse. 
Now  was  it  not  conscious  adaptation  of  means  to  that  end 
when,  the  next  morning,  on  the  groom,  failing  to  arise  and 
feed  him,  Captain  deliberately  went  and  pulled  the  bed  clothes 
from  him,  and  has  done  it  ever  since  ? 

Romanes,  in  his  Animal  Intelligence,  clearly  suggests  the 
processes  by  which  we  may  study  or  investigate  the  operations 
of  animal  intelligence.  Says  he: 

If  we  contemplate  our  own  mind,  we  have  an  immediate  cognizance 
of  a  certain  flow  of  thoughts  or  feelings,  which  are  the  most  ultimate 
things,  and  indeed  the  only  things,  of  which  we  are  cognizant.  .  .  . 
But  in  our  objective  analysis  of  other  or  foreign  minds  we  have  no 
such  immediate  cognizance;  all  our  knowledge  of  their  operations  is 
derived,  as  it  were,  through  the  medium  of  ambassadors — these  am- 

*  Romanes,  pp.  5,  16. 
fRomanes,  p.  16. 

[13] 


bassadors  being  the  activities  of  the  organism.  .  .  .  Starting  from 
what  I  know  subjectively  of  the  operation  of  my  own  individual  mind, 
and  the  activities  which  in  my  own  organism  they  prompt,  I  proceed 
by  analogy  to  infer  from  the  observable  activities  of  other  organisms 
what  are  the  mental  operations  that  underlie  them.* 

Upon  any  hypothesis  of  the  development  of  human  or  ani- 
mal intelligence  it  is  evident  that  mentality  is  of  a  wonderfully 
varied  quality.  There  is  a  distinct,  though  by  no  means  clearly 
defined,  sliding  scale  of  intelligence.  It  is  universal  knowledge 
that  a  dog  shows  more  intelligence  than  a  frog,  and  a  horse 
than  a  turtle ;  and  human  intelligences  are  as  widely  separated 
as  the  Igorrote  and  a  Hottentot  and  a  Gladstone  or  a  Tagore. 
Where  the  horse's  place  is,  in  the  sliding  scale  of  general 
intelligence,  I  do  not  know ;  nor  can  I  tell  exactly  where  Cap- 
tain should  be  located  in  the  varying  scale  of  the  intelligence  of 
horses  in  general.  But  this  I  do  know.  He  has  intelligence, 
and  it  is  much  superior  to  that  commonly  shown  by  the  ma- 
jority of  horses.  And  I  firmly  believe  with  Captain  Sigsbee 
that  training  and  discipline  have  their  effect  in  bringing  up  the 
intelligence  of  the  higher  order  of  horses  to  the  intelligence  of 
the  lower  class,  or  child,  level  of  humans. 

I  am  decidedly  opposed  to  the  assumption  that  the  intelli- 
gence of  horses  is  a  fixed  and  immovable  mental  quantity ;  that 
no  amount  of  kindly,  sympathetic,  and  understanding  training 
by  thoughtful  men,  will  add  to,  or  develop  what  they  already 
possess.  I  believe,  beyond  the  power  of  any  logical  formula 
to  shake  my  belief,  that  any  constant  contact  of  the  soul  of 
man  with  whatever  there  is  in  horses  that  corresponds  to  the 
soul  must  produce  a  resulting  awakening,  quickening,  deepen- 
ing of  that  soul — something  in  both  man  and  animal. 

It  is  in  this  light,  therefore,  that  what  I  write  of  Captain's 
"human  intelligence"  must  be  understood.  He  is  developing. 
He  has  awakened,  so  far.  He  has  begun  the  upward  journey. 
The  more  he  is  "educated"  the  nearer  the  true  resemblance  to 
human  intelligence  will  he  display. 

If,  in  any  way,  these  pages  help  forward  the  day  of  closer 
sympathy  between  man  and  his  lesser  or  younger  brothers  and 
sisters,  I  shall  be  amply  repaid  for  the  labor  of  writing  them. 

GEORGE  WHARTON  JAMES. 
The  Exposition,  San  Diego,  Christmas,  1916. 


*Animal  Intelligence,  by  J.  G.  Romanes,  p.  1.     D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  1888. 

[14] 


CAPTAIN'S  OWN  STORY 

I  was  born  on  June  8,  1905,  on  the  farm  of  Judge  J.  H. 
Cartwright,  in  Oregon,  111.  My  mother's  name  was  Robey, 
and  my  father's,  Sidney.  While  I  was  a  little  colt  the  Judge 
called  me  Sid  Bell.  He  used  to  come  to  the  barn  and  look  me 
over  and  recount  what  he  called  my  "points"  to  his  friends, 
and  when  I  was  in  the  pasture  running  to  and  fro,  kicking  up 
my  heels,  and  thoroughly  enjoying  myself,  he  would  stand 
looking  on,  apparently  thinking  very  hard.  One  day  the  groom 
tied  me  to  my  mother's  side,  and  the  Judge  drove  her  out  over 
the  road,  and  he  seemed  very  pleased  at  the  way  I  trotted  along. 
Day  after  day  he  did  this,  for  a  long  time,  making  me  go 
faster  and  faster  until  I  heard  him,  and  other  people,  say  that 
I  was  going  to  be  a  very  fast  pacer.  My  lungs  expanded  with 
the  exercise ;  my  muscles  grew  strong  and  firm ;  my  eyes  were 
bright  and  clear;  I  had  a  hearty  appetite  and  enjoyed  every 
mouthful  I  ate,  and  every  day  when  they  turned  me  loose  in 
the  pasture,  I  raced  up  and  down  just  as  proud  and  happy 
and  full  of  life  and  exuberant  spirits  as  ever  possessed  a  young 
horse  in  all  the  wide  world. 

One  day  the  Judge  took  me  out  on  what  was  called  a  "track." 
It  was  a  smooth  oval  place,  not  very  wide,  arranged  solely  for 
the  purpose  of  driving  horses.  They  fastened  a  light  little  cart 
behind  me,  hardly  big  enough  for  my  groom  to  sit  in,  and  then 
he  made  me  go  around  that  track  as  hard  as  I  could  go.  Of 
course  he  let  me  go  easy  at  first,  until  I — what  he  called — 
"warmed  up,"  and  then  he  would  say,  "Now,  Sid  Bell,  Go  to 
it !"  and  would  give  that  peculiar  clicking  sound  that  men  make 
when  they  want  a  horse  to  hurry  up,  and  I  paced  ahead  as 
fast  as  I  knew  how. 

The  Judge  used  to  come  and  watch  proceedings  nearly  every 
day,  and  give  suggestions  to  my  groom.  Some  days  he  would 
be  very  proud  and  boastful  about  me,  and  other  times,  not 
quite  so  well  satisfied.  But  one  day,  when  I  was  feeling  par- 
ticularly good,  and  had  gone  around  the  track  at  a  lively  clip, 
I  heard  him  say  "He'll  do!  He  made  it  that  time  in  2:16," 
which  I  afterwards  learned  meant  that  I  had  paced  a  mile  in 

[15] 


two  minutes  and  sixteen  seconds,  and  that  was  accounted 
pretty  fast  for  a  two-year-old  colt. 

When  I  was  nearly  three  years  old  the  Judge  sold  me  to  Mr. 
W.  A.  Sigsbee  of  Chicago.  My  mother  had  told  me,  one  day 
when  Mr.  Sigsbee  came  to  the  track  to  watch  me  pace,  that  he 
was  a  great  animal  trainer,  known  all  over  the  country  as  Cap- 
tain Sigsbee.  I  heard  the  Captain  say  "He's  a  beauty.  His 
action  is  fine,"  and  when  I  was  brought  up  to  where  he  and 
the  Judge  were  standing  he  repeated  these  and  many  other 
comments,  all  of  a  nature  to  make  a  young  horse  like  me  think 
a  good  deal  of  himself,  so  that  I  looked  at  him  and  let  him 
know  by  my  eyes  that  I  liked  him  to  speak  in  that  way  about 
me.  Then  he  began  to  talk  about  my  "intelligent  look"  and 
all  at  once  he  exclaimed,  quite  emphatically:  "Judge,  I've  got 
to  have  that  colt.  I  want  to  train  him  and  make  him  the  best 
known  horse  in  the  world."  The  Judge  didn't  seem  to  like  this 
idea  very  much,  at  first.  He  said  he  had  trained  me  for  the 
track,  and  he  didn't  intend  to  part  with  me,  but  Captain  Sigs- 
bee urged  so  strongly  that  it  would  be  far  better  for  me,  to 
keep  me  away  from  the  track,  and  let  me  be  especially  trained 
and  then  sent  out  through  the  country  as  an  educated  horse, 
that  finally  he  consented  to  sell  me. 

My  mother  was  very  sorry  to  have  me  go  away  from  her, 
and  I  was  sorry  to  go,  but  she  seemed  to  find  a  great  deal  of 
comfort  in  the  fact  that  I  should  no  longer  be  on  the  .track; 
I  should  have  a  much  less  strenuous  life  than  racing,  and  that 
the  education  my  new  owner  wished  to  give  me  would  also  be 
much  to  my  advantage  in  other  ways. 

So  Captain  Sigsbee  took  me  to  Chicago.  And  my!  what  a 
noisy,  bustling  city  it  was.  How  different  from  the  quiet  coun- 
try where  I  was  born  and  so  far  had  spent  my  life.  And  the 
smells !  Why,  I  smelled  more  horrible  smells  in  one  day  there, 
I  think,  than  I  had  smelled  in  all  my  life  before.  The  same 
with  the  noises.  People  think  horses  don't  care  about  smells 
and  noises.  Don't  they?  I  was  jumping  and  nervous  all  the 
time  with  the  new  and  awful  noises  that  seemed  to  rush  at  me 
from  every  direction.  Street  cars,  roaring,  rushing  and  their 
bell  clanging;  automobiles  honking  right  in  my  ears;  wagons 
rumbling  over  the  stones ;  men  shouting ;  women  and  girls  talk- 
ing with  high-pitched  voices ;  babies  squalling ;  policemen  whis- 
tling at  the  street  crossings;  newsboys  shouting  their  papers; 
beggars  grinding  away  on  their  pitiful  little  organs;  and  a 
thousand  other  noises,  many  of  which  I  had  never  before  heard. 
As  we  were  crossing  one  of  the  streets  or  avenues  a  new  noise 
came  rushing  at  me,  as  fast  an  an  automobile  travels,  but  it 

[16] 


was  over  my  head.  I  looked  up,  but  could  see  nothing  but 
trestle-work  above  me,  and  the  noise  was  loud  enough  to  be 
felt.  Nearer  it  came,  until  with  a  rush  and  a  roar,  it  seemed 
to  fall  on  me,  and  I  reared  and  struggled  and  even  screamed 
in  my  terror.  Then  in  a  moment  the  fierce  noise  of  it  was 
gone,  and  it  gradually  grew  less  and  less.  But  in  another 
street  I  had  the  same  experience.  Captain  spoke  quietingly  and 
soothingly  to  me  and  told  me  I  needn't  be  scared  as  it  was 
"only  the  elevated  railway,"  but  I  didn't  know  then  what  he 
meant.  Of  course,  I  learned  all  about  it  later,  and  then  I  was 
no  longer  scared. 

At  the  training-barn  I  had  a  fine  large  box-stall,  the  floor 
covered  with  clean,  sweet-smelling  hay,  where  I  could  lie  down 
and  rest  whenever  I  felt  like  it.  My  new  owner  was  very  kind 
to  me.  He  came  to  see  me  several  times  a  day,  and  brought 
his  friends,  and  told  them  how  proud  he  was  of  me.  He  always 
brought  me  an  apple,  a  carrot,  a  lump  of  sugar  or  something  I 
liked,  and  I  soon  watched  for  his  coming.  I  learned  to  love 
him.  But  I  did  not  like  being  left  alone  in  that  strange  place, 
and  with  so  many  disagreeable  smells  and  noises  around  me. 
When  he  went  away  I  tried  to  beg  him  not  to  go.  I  would 
"nose  up"  to  him  and  even  try  to  hold  him,  but  he  only  called 
me  "A  cunning  rascal,"  and  broke  away.  Then  I  would 
whinny  and  paw  and  paw  so  that  I  was  sure  if  he  had  any 
real  horse-sense  he  would  surely  know  what  I  meant,  and  that 
I  was  telling  him  so  clearly  that  even  a  mule  or  a  donkey  would 
understand  that  I  did  not  want  him  to  leave  me  alone.  But 
poor  creature,  he  was  only  a  man,  and  didn't  have  horse-sense, 
so  I  was  left.  When  he  came  again  I  showed  him  by  my  glad- 
ness and  the  reality  of  my  welcome  how  glad  I  was  he  had 
come. 

One  day  while  he  was  away  some  rude  and  noisy  men  got 
into  a  quarrel  outside  the  stable,  and  they  fought,  and  swore, 
and  made  an  awful  noise.  One  of  them  fired  a  gun  or  a  re- 
volver at  the  other,  and  the  hubbub  was  terrible.  I  was  dread- 
fully alarmed,  and  when  the  Captain  came,  a  little  while  after, 
I  was  lathered  all  over  with  the  sweat  that  had  poured  out 
of  me  because  I  was  so  afraid. 

"My,  my!"  he  exclaimed,  as  soon  as  he  saw  me,  "this  will 
never  do.  The  poor  little  fellow's  scared  almost  to  death. 
I'll  never  leave  him  alone  again." 

How  glad  I  was  to  hear  that.  I  kissed  him,  just  as  I  had 
learned  to  kiss  my  mother,  and  tried  to  show  him  my  grati- 
tude. He  kept  his  word,  and  that  very  night  he  brought  a 
groom  to  me,  whom  he  called  Chili.  He  told  Chili  he  was 
never  to  leave  me,  day  or  night.  He  was  to  be  my  companion 

[17] 


and  caretaker.  He  must  not  try  to  teach  me,  or  anything  of 
that  kind,  but  just  simply  see  that  I  had  plenty  of  hay  and 
water  and  my  oats  regularly,  and  an  abundance  of  litter  to 
sleep  on,  that  I  was  kept  perfectly  clean,  my  stable  also  clean 
and  sweet,  and  be  with  me  all  the  time.  That  was  a  great 
comfort  to  me.  Few  people  can  know  how  much,  for  I  really 
believe,  now  that  I  am  older,  that  horses  are  far  more  fearful 
and  timid  even  than  women  and  colts  than  babies.  We  are  an 
awfully  scary  lot.  It's  too  bad,  but  it  is  so! 

By  this  time  Captain  Sigsbee  had  decided  that  I  was  going 
to  suit  his  purpose  perfectly,  so  he  gave  me  his  own  name,  that 
everybody  night  know  I  was  his  horse.  He  was  known  all 
over  the  country  as  Captain  Sigsbee,  and  if  I  bore  his  name, 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  people  would  know,  as  soon  as  they 
heard  it,  who  had  trained  me. 

But  he  never  called  me  "Captain"  while  he  was  visiting  me 
in  the  stable;  nor  did  he  ever  allow  Chili  to  call  me  "Captain." 
I  was  always  "Boy!"  except  when  he  was  teaching  me.  You 
see  there  was  a  reason  for  that.  When  he  said  "Captain,"  I 
soon  learned  that  we  were  at  school  and  I  must  attend  strictly 
to  business;  at  other  times  I  used  to  do  as  I  liked,  but  when 
we  began  "work,"  I  found  out  I  had  to  take  everything  seri- 
ously, do  just  as  I  was  told,  and  stick  to  my  lessons,  trying 
hard  to  learn  what  I  was  being  taught.  If  I  didn't  I  failed 
to  get  the  carrots,  apples,  sugar  or  candy  that  I  expected. 

Chili  used  to  sleep  in  the  stall  next  to  mine,  and  I  was  gen- 
erally left  free,  and  as  there  were  no  doors  or  bars  I  could  go 
and  see  if  he  was  there  at  any  time,  if  I  felt  nervous  or  afraid. 
One  morning  he  didn't  get  up  to  feed  me  at  the  usual  time — 
6  a.  m. — and  I  waited  until  I  was  pretty  hungry.  Then  I 
decided  to  go  and  see  what  was  the  matter.  He  was  still 
sound  asleep,  so  I  leaned  my  head  over  him  and  rubbed  his 
face  with  my  nose.  That  woke  him  up,  right  away,  and  he 
jumped  up  and  fed  me.  He  laughed  and  patted  me  and  called 
me  a  cute  fellow,  and  said  I  was  a  smart  horse,  so,  when  he 
failed  to  get  up  and  feed  me  the  next  time,  I  didn't  wait  but 
went  right  up  to  his  cot  and  did  it  again.  I  did  this  several 
times,  and  always  got  my  feed  right  away,  but  one  morning, 
after  I  woke  Chili  he  must  have  dropped  off  to  sleep  again. 
When  he  didn't  come  with  my  oats  I  went  around  to  see  what 
the  matter  was  and  there  he  was  sound  asleep  again,  with  the 
covers  pulled  up  over  his  head.  I  felt  a  little  bit  angry  with 
him  for  neglecting  me  like  that,  so  I  just  took  hold  of  the  bed- 
clothes, gave  them  a  yank,  and  pulled  them  right  down  nearly 
to  the  foot  of  the  cot. 

[18] 


My!  my!  how  he  jumped!  He  was  out  of  that  cot  in  a 
flash, — but  he  laughed  and  said  there  was  no  beating  me,  he'd 
have  to  give  up.  I  hardly  knew  just  what  he  meant  at  the 
time,  but  I  had  learned  a  good  lesson,  for  ever  since  then  I 
don't  waste  any  time  in  waking  my  groom,  and  if  he  doesn't 
bring  me  my  feed  on  time  I  go  and  pull  off  the  bed-clothes  from 
him,  and  I  get  my  oats  without  further  delay,  even  though 
sometimes,  after  giving  me  my  breakfast  he  goes  back  again 
to  bed  and  takes  another  snooze.  Chili  and  I  soon  became 
good  friends,  but  that  did  not  take  away  my  affection  for  my 
master.  I  was  always  glad  to  see  him.  He  used  to  come  and 
talk  to  me — man  talk,  of  course — but  I  soon  learned  to  know 
a  great  deal  of  what  he  said,  and  I  always  paid  attention — well, 
perhaps,  to  be  strictly  truthful  I  would  better  say  nearly 
always — for  he  never  failed,  when  I  did  so,  to  give  me  some 
titbit  or  other  that  I  much  enjoyed.  Of  all  these  I  liked  sugar 
the  best,  but  he  says  too  much  sugar  isn't  good  for  me,  so  I 
never  get  quite  as  much  as  I  would  like. 

During  all  this  time  I  was  being  educated.  I  was  taught  to 
count  with  my  feet,  to  pick  out  numbers  and  colors,  and  to 
know  the  difference  between  men,  women,  boys  and  girls.  I 
learned  to  add  numbers  together,  to  say  Yes  and  No,  to  kiss 
my  master,  sit  on  a  chair,  even  on  his  lap,  without  hurting 
him,  make  change  on  a  cash  register,  play  tunes  on  the  chimes, 
and  lots  of  other  things. 

My  master  was  always  good  and  kind  to  me  while  teaching 
me.  He  never  got  impatient,  and  he  would  stop  every  once 
in  a  while  and  let  me  rest,  and  he  always  gave  me  something 
nice  to  eat  when  I  did  well.  So  I  used  to  look  out  of  the  win- 
dow of  my  stable  and  see  other  horses  dragging  heavy  loads, 
sometimes  being  driven  fast  by  delivery-boys,  in  hot  weather, 
until  they  were  dripping  with  perspiration,  or  in  winter-time, 
out  in  the  snow  or  where  the  streets  were  so  slippery  that  they 
fell  down.  I  often  heard  their  drivers  shouting  roughly  at 
them  and  using  foul  language,  and  I  have  seen  them  whip  their 
poor  animals  cruelly,  and  then  I  knew  how  much  better  off 
I  was  than  they,  and  it  made  me  feel  very  thankful  and  grate- 
ful to  my  good  master. 

He  always  talked  nicely  while  he  was  training  me;  told  me 
that  if  I  was  good  and  learned  my  lessons,  people  would  come 
to  see  me,  and  they  would  love  me,  and  he  and  my  mistress  and 
Chili  would  be  very  proud  of  me.  He  told  me  about  some  of 
the  boys  and  girls  who  went  to  school,  but  who  refused  to 
learn  their  lessons,  and  the  misery  and  wretchedness  that  often 
came  to  them  as  the  result.  So  I  grew  more  and  more  anxious 

[19] 


to  learn,  for  although  I  was  only  a  horse,  I  wanted  people  to 
love  me  and  think  well  of  me,  and  say  nice  things  about  me. 

For  five  whole  years  my  master  kept  me  at  school.  Every 
day  he  came  to  my  stable,  or  took  me  out  into  the  yard,  to 
give  me  my  lessons.  I  guess  I  was  a  slow  learner,  and  it  took 
a  great  deal  of  patience  to  make  me  remember,  for  I  was  only 
a  horse — not  a  boy  or  a  girl,  with  human  intelligence.  We 
had  to  go  over  the  same  lessons  scores,  hundreds  of  times, 
until  I  knew  them  by  heart.  But  my  master  was  kind  all  the 
time,  seldom  spoke  angrily  to  me,  and  never  whipped  me, 
though  he  kept  a  small  switch  in  his  hand  with  which  he  gave 
me  a  gentle  reminder,  once  in  a  whole,  when  I  was  inclined  to 
be  a  little  more  frolicsome  than  usual. 

One  day  he  came  to  me  and  said :  "Now,  Captain,  you  and 
I  are  going  to  travel  and  see  the  world.  Do  you  know  what 
I  have  been  educating  you  for?  I  am  going  to  let  people  all 
over  this  country  see  you,  and  what  you  can  do,  so  that  they 
will  no  longer  be  able  truthfully  to  say  that  a  horse  has  no 
intelligence.  Chili  will  go  along  with  us.  When  we  are  on 
the  trains  he  will  remain  in  your  stall  and  travel  with  you,  and 
when  we  stop  anywhere  to  'show'  he  will  spend  his  nights  with 
you  as  he  has  done  all  the  time." 

Just  think  what  news  this  was  for  a  horse !  How  I  pricked 
up  my  ears!  How  I  looked  forward  for  the  day  to  come 
when  we  should  start! 

At  last  the  eventful  day  arrived.  Quite  a  number  of  people 
came  to  see  us  go.  Chili  led  me  from  my  stable  to  what  he 
called  a  box-car  at  the  railway  station.  It  had  padded  ends 
and  sides  so  that,  when  the  train  bumped  while  the  cars  were 
being  switched,  or  at  the  starting  or  stopping  of  the  train,  I 
could  not  get  hurt.  I  am  free  to  confess  I  didn't  like  the  idea 
of  going  into  the  car  at  first  and  both  my  master  and  Chili  had 
to  persuade  me  before  I  went  in. 

When  the  train  started  I  didn't  like  it  at  all,  and  I  was  un- 
easy for  a  few  days  whenever  we  were  on  the  train,  but  Chili 
was  always  there,  and  he  kept  telling  me  there  was  nothing  to 
be  afraid  of,  so  as  I  had  learned  to  trust  him,  I  soon  stopped 
worrying,  and  /  have  never  worried  since.  Some  people  tell  me 
that  in  that  regard  I  learned  to  be  wiser  than  a  great  many 
humans,  who  ought  to  know  that  worrying  does  no  good  and 
yet  they  still  go  on  doing  it.  How  I  pity  such  people  that  they 
don't  have  a  little  bit  of  simple  horse-sense. 

By  and  by  I  learned,  as  we  traveled,  to  look  out  of  the  win- 
dow and  see  what  there  was  outside.  What  a  lot  of  wonderful 
things  I  saw.  Of  course  we  kept  stopping,  sometimes  for  a 

[20] 


week,  then  for  only  a  day  or  two,  and  we  gave  exhibitions  all 
the  time,  the  people  coming  in  large  numbers  to  see  me.  They 
all  wondered  how  my  good  master  had  succeeded  in  training 
and  educating  me  so  well.  Then  sometimes  they  came  up  and 
petted  me,  and  the  girls  and  women,  and  even  the  boys  and 
men,  kissed  me  on  the  nose,  and  said  such  nice  and  flattering 
things  to  me.  I  enjoyed  it  ever  so  much,  for  I  like  people  to 
like  me.  And  of  course,  my  master  never  forgot  to  give  me 
a  carrot,  or  an  apple,  or  a  cookie,  when  I  did  well,  so  that  he 
said  I  grew  "fatter  and  saucier  every  day." 

My  very  first  public  appearance  and  performance  was  in  the 
lobby  of  the  Sherman  House,  in  Chicago,  in  August,  1913, 
at  the  Engineer's  Convention.  I  went  from  there  to  the  Great 
Northern  Hippodrome,  where  I  stayed  for  a  whole  week. 
Then  we  started  and  took  the  complete  circuit  of  the  Miles 
Theaters,  starting  from  Chicago  and  going  to  New  York  one 
way,  and  returning  to  Chicago  another  way.  I  enjoyed  it  very 
much,  and  made  lots  of  friends  on  that  first  trip. 

When  we  got  back  to  Chicago  it  was  late  in  the  fall  of  1914, 
and  my  master  told  me  we  were  not  going  to  work  any  more 
publicly  for  several  months,  as  he  wanted  to  get  me  ready  for 
the  Panama-Pacific  International  Exposition  at  San  Francisco, 
that  was  to  open  on  the  20th  of  February,  1915.  That  great 
big  long  name  made  me  nervous  at  first — I  wondered  what  it 
meant.  But  by  listening  to  my  master  and  Chili  talking  I  soon 
learned  that  it  was  a  great  and  wonderful  "show,"  in  honor 
of  the  completing  of  the  Panama  Canal  that  united  the  Atlantic 
and  the  Pacific  Oceans,  and  they  called  it  "International"  be- 
cause all  the  nations  of  the  earth  were  invited  to  take  part  in  it. 

Later  I  learned  that  there  were  to  be  magnificent  buildings, 
bigger  than  any  I  had  ever  seen,  even  in  Chicago  and  New 
York,  Palaces  of  Music,  and  Education,  and  Fine  Arts,  and 
Mining,  and  Domestic  Industries,  and  Foreign  Industries,  of 
Liberal  Arts,  and  Electricity,  and  Engineering,  and  Food 
Products,  and  that,  besides,  all  the  countries  that  took  part, 
would  have  their  own  buildings.  Then  there  were  to  be  mag- 
nificent courts  and  fountains  and  arches  and  columns  and 
domes  and  statues  and  bas-reliefs  and  pools  and  flower- 
gardens  and  trees,  and  at  night-time  searchlights  and  fireworks, 
and  steam-works  and  illuminations  more  beautiful  than  any- 
thing of  the  kind  men  had  ever  seen  before.  So,  even  though 
I  was  only  a  horse,  I  was  anxious  to  go  and  see  it  all. 

Then  Chili  told  me  there  was  to  be  one  whole  long  street 
devoted  to  pleasures  and  amusements,  that  they  were  to  call 
the  ZONE,  and  we  were  to  appear  there.  There  was  to  be  a 

[21] 


wonderful  exhibit  showing  the  appearance  and  working  of  the 
Panama  Canal,  villages  of  strange  people  from  all  over  the 
world,  Cowboy  shows,  Mining  Camps,  a  representation  of  the 
seven  days  of  Creation,  and  the  Battle  of  Gettysburg,  Capt. 
Scott's  Trip  to  the  South  Pole,  the  fight  of  the  Dreadnoughts 
and  Submarines,  an  Incubator  for  babies — human  babies,  mind, 
the  tiniest  little  humans  you  ever  saw, — the  Grand  Canyon, 
the  Pueblo  Indian  village,  the  Yellowstone  National  Park,  the 
Streets  of  Cairo,  Toyland,  the  Japanese  town,  and  lots  of 
others  that  I  do  not  now  recall.  We  were  to  have  our  show 
right  on  the  Zone,  and  be  one  of  these  many  marvelous  and 
wonderful  attractions.  The  more  I  heard  about  these  things 
the  more  anxious  I  was  to  go,  and  yet  I  wondered  a  good 
deal  as  to  whether  I  should  be  as  attractive  to  the  crowd 
among  so  many  other  interesting  things  as  I  had  been  where 
there  were  not  so  many.  But  my  master  and  Chili  seemed 
satisfied,  so  I  stuck  to  my  motto  and  "Quit  Worrying." 

Day  after  day  we  rehearsed  my  performance  and  went  over 
my  lessons,  until  my  master  said  I  was  "sure  perfect."  That 
made  me  feel  good.  Then  one  day  I  heard  master  tell  Chili 
to  go  and  see  that  his  orders  were  carried  out  about  the  car, 
and  I  learned  then  that  the  car  was  ordered  that  was  to  take 
me  to  San  Francisco,  and  that  the  workmen  were  busy  at  work 
upon  it,  padding  it  and  making  it  comfortable  for  me  as  well  as 
Chili.  When  everything  was  ready  and  lots  of  hay  and  grain 
put  in  the  car,  Chili  took  me  aboard,  and  that  night  we 
started.  Over  the  plains  of  Illinois  and  Iowa,  into  Nebraska 
and  Wyoming,  through  Utah  and  Nevada  we  rode.  What  a  lot 
of  different  country  I  saw  from  any  I  had  ever  seen  before. 
When  we  reached  the  mountains  I  thought  they  were  won- 
derful, and  how  I  enjoyed  the  ride,  as  we  raced  down  from 
Summit  to  Cheyenne.  At  Reno  we  began  the  climb  over  the 
Sierras  and  Chili  said  we  were  in  California.  I  had  heard  it 
was  a  land  of  sunshine  and  flowers  and  birds  and  fruit,  but 
we  were  in  a  region  of  rocks  and  mountains,  precipices  and 
canyons,  snow  and  ice,  and  while  there  were  plenty  of  beau- 
tiful trees  I  couldn't  see  a  single  flower.  When  Chili  brought, 
from  one  of  the  streams,  several  times  a  day,  a  bucket  of 
water  for  me  to  drink,  is  was  colder  than  any  well-water  I 
had  ever  been  given  in  my  life.  My!  how  it  made  my  teeth 
ache.  But  it  was  so  sweet  and  tasted  so  good,  as  if  the  winds 
of  God  had  blown  over  it  for  months,  bringing  freshness  and 
sweetness  and  filling  it  full  of  their  deliciousness. 

As  soon  as  we  reached  the  summit  we  began  to  go  down, 
down,  down,  to  lower  levels,  and  long  before  we  left  the  snow 

[22] 


I  could  smell  the  sweet  growing  timothy  and  clover  and  alfalfa, 
and  even  the  blossoms  on  the  fruit-trees,  and  when  we  reached 
Auburn  and  Newcastle  and  lots  of  other  towns  up  there,  we 
were  in  the  real  California  I  had  always  pictured.  Larks  and 
thrushes,  linnets  and  mocking-birds,  song-sparrows  and  war- 
blers were  there  by  the  thousands,  singing  such  songs  as  I  had 
never  heard,  and  flowers !  There  were  flowers  of  a  thousand 
kinds,  all  new  to  me,  pushing  their  way  up  through  the  green 
grass ;  and  as  for  the  fruit-trees,  although  it  was  early  in  Febru- 
ary, there  were  thousands  of  them  already  in  bloom  and  as 
sweet  and  fragrant  and  beautiful  as  a  Garden  of  Eden. 

It  was  the  fourteenth  of  February,  1915,  when  we  reached 
San  Francisco.  There  Chili  took  me  to  a  comfortable  livery 
barn,  where  I  remained  until  March  17.  This  was  owing  to  the 
fact  that  the  theater  my  master  was  having  built  for  our  per- 
formances, was  not  completed  until  that  time.  At  the  rear  of 
it  was  a  fine  barn  and  stable  for  my  use,  where  Chili  could 
also  sleep. 

Though  we  began  a  month  late  we  soon  made  up  for  lost 
time.  The  people  came  by  the  hundreds  and  then  by  the 
thousands.  They  petted  me,  and  laughed  at  my  tricks,  espe- 
cially when  I  felt  good  and  came  running  onto  the  platform, 
kicking  up  my  heels  and  having  a  general  good  time.  The 
women  called  me  a  "dear,"  and  a  "darling,"  and  the  men  said 
I  was  "remarkable,"  "a  marvel,"  and  "a  wonder,"  and  the  boys 
said  I  was  "a  corker,"  and  "a  jim-dandy."  Anyhow  those  who 
saw  me  pick  out  the  good-looking  ladies,  and  the  fine-looking 
men,  sort  out  colors,  add,  subtract,  multiply,  give  change  on 
the  cash  register,  pump,  corkscrew,  hobby-horse,  sit  on  my 
master's  lap,  play  the  chimes  and  do  my  various  exhibitions 
of  thought,  memory  and  reason,  went  away  and  spread  my 
fame.  My  master,  of  course,  felt  very  happy  over  it,  for  each 
day  the  receipts  grew  larger.  But,  as  more  people  came,  I  had 
to  give  performances  more  often,  and  I  soon  began  to  think 
I  was  overworked.  My  master  didn't  think  so,  but  he  didn't 
realize  how  tired  I  got.  I  tried  to  tell  him,  as  well  as  I  knew 
how,  but  he  didn't  seem  to  pay  any  attention,  and  I  was  begin- 
ning to  feel  that  he  loved  money  better  than  he  loved  me. 
But  all  this  time  he  was  watching  me  very  closely,  and  one 
day,  when  I  was  quite  tired,  he  did  not  let  me  give  so  many 
performances.  Then,  too,  there  was  another  thing  that  was 
bothering  me.  While  I  loved  Chili  very  dearly,  as  he  was 
always  good  to  me,  somehow  he  was  not  so  careful  and  at- 
tentive to  my  needs  in  San  Francisco  as  he  had  been  hitherto. 
I  began  to  watch  him  and  found  he  came  in  late,  very  often, 

[23] 


and  I  soon  saw  that  he  was  getting  into  bad  company.  As 
soon  as  my  master  found  this  out,  he  let  him  go,  and  secured 
for  me  a  new  groom.  He  is  a  "cullud  genman," — a  real  negro 
gentleman,  from  the  South,  who  thoroughly  understands  fine 
horses,  and  whose  name  is  Jasper,  and  we  soon  became  very 
much  attached  to  each  other. 

Just  about  this  time  a  beautiful  little  woman  came  right  up 
to  my  stall  and  said,  as  she  gave  me  some  sugar :  "You  beau- 
tiful creature.  I've  been  watching  your  performance.  You 
are  wonderful.  I'm  afraid  they're  working  you  too  hard. 
You  should  have  some  one  to  help  you.  I'm  going  to  ask 
Captain  Sigsbee  if  he  won't  let  me  come  and  relieve  you." 

I  pricked  up  my  ears  at  this  and  watched  and  listened  very 
intently  when  she  went  to  my  master.  I  then  learned  that 
her  name  was  Madame  Ellis,  and  she  said  she  was  a  mind- 
reader  and  telepathist.  She  explained  that  she  had  watched 
me  give  the  blind-fold  part  of  my  entertainment  with  the 
greatest  interest,  and  was  well  satisfied  that  I  understood  every 
word  that  was  said  to  me.  Then  came  the  words  that  almost 
made  me  dance  for  joy,  for  she  said:  "Captain  Sigsbee,  I 
give  a  blind- fold  entertainment  that  would  go  wonderfully  well 
with  your  Captain's  exhibition,  and  at  the  same  time  give  him 
plenty  of  opportunity  to  rest  and  take  a  good  breathing  spell 
between  performances." 

My  good  master  seemed  as  pleased  as  I  was,  for  he  imme- 
diately made  the  arrangement  with  Mr.  Ellis,  and  the  very 
next  day  Madame  Ellis  appeared  on  my  platform.  No  one 
will  ever  know  how  much  I  was  interested  at  this  first  per- 
formance of  hers.  I  watched  her  every  move,  for  when  they 
wanted  me  to  go  to  my  stable  and  rest  while  she  performed,  I 
clearly  showed  them  I  did  not  want  or  intend  to  go.  I  stood 
and  saw  the  whole  performance,  and  I  can  only  say  that  if 
Madame  Ellis  is  as  pleased  with  what  I  do,  as  I  am  with  what 
she  does,  then  she  is  a  very  pleased  woman. 

We  became  the  best  and  dearest  of  friends  and  have  so 
remained  ever  since,  for  when  a  horse  gives  his  friendship  he 
is  not  like  some  human  beings  I  have  seen,  fickle  and  faithless, 
but  is  constant  and  faithful.  We  have  never  had  the  sign  of 
a  quarrel,  and  there  is  not  the  slightest  jealousy  between  us. 
She  is  as  proud  of  my  triumphs  and  success  as  I  am  of  hers. 
And  they  tell  me  that  as  far  as  earning  money  is  concerned 
Madame  Ellis  and  I  earned  more  than  any  other  show  on  the 
Zone,  not  even  excepting  the  wonderful  Panama  Canal  and  the 
picture  of  Stella. 

There  were  a  great  many  very  noted  people  came  to  see  us 

[24] 


while  we  were  in  San  Francisco.  Mr.  C.  C.  Moore,  president 
of  the  Exposition,  and  Mrs.  Moore,  together  with  Mayor  and 
Mrs.  Rolfe,  and  thousands  of  others  from  all  over  the  world, 
as  well  as  those  who  lived  in  San  Francisco  became  my  good 
friends.  After  I  had  gone  away  President  Moore  wrote  the 
following  letter  to  my  master,  which  I  am  proud  to  have  people 
read: 

PANAMA-PACIFIC  INTERNATIONAL  EXPOSITION,   1915 
San  Francisco,  California 
OFFICE  OF  THE  PRESIDENT 

Oct.  6,  1916. 
CAPTAIN  W.  A.  SIGSBEE. 

Dear  Sir :  It  is  a  pleasure  to  me  to  inform  you  how  much  I  enjoyed 
the  performance  of  your  horse  "Captain"  at  the  Panama- Pacific  Inter- 
national Exposition,  which  I  saw  a  number  of  times.  The  performance 
of  this  highly  intelligent  animal  was  a  great  attraction  to  visitors  to  the 
Exposition. 

Very  truly  yours, 

CHAS.  C.  MOORE,  President. 

When  the  Exposition  closed  in  San  Francisco,  my  master 
and  Jasper  took  me  down  to  Venice,  in  Southern  California, 
where  we  stayed  until  March  18,  1916,  when  we  moved  to  the 
Panama-California  International  Exposition  at  San  Diego.  Of 
course,  there  was  nothing  like  the  large  number  of  people  here 
that  there  were  in  San  Francisco,  but  we  made  many  good 
friends  and  had  some  large  audiences.  Among  those  I  esteem 
most  highly  were  President  and  Mrs.  G.  Aubrey  Davidson  and 
their  children;  Mr.  H.  J.  Penfold,  the  secretary,  and  all  the 
officials.  They  all  used  to  come  and  pet  me  whenever  oppor- 
tunity arose,  and  many  of  the  leading  men  and  women  of  the 
city  seemed  glad  to  call  themselves  my  friend.  But  I  am  free 
to  confess  that  I  have  a  few  very  special  friends,  and  one  of 
these  is  the  great  singer,  Ellen  Beach  Yaw.  While  singing  in 
the  San  Francisco  Exposition  she  used  to  come  to  see  me  often, 
and  became  much  attached  to  me,  as  I  to  her,  and  both  there 
and  in  San  Diego  she  would  sing  to  me.  Some  people  think  I 
don't  understand  music,  in  spite  of  my  playing  accurately  dif- 
ferent tunes  on  the  chimes,  but  my  master  and  Jasper  both 
know  that  when  I  am  nervous  and  tired,  on  the  other  hand, 
frolicsome  and  frisky,  I  am  always  glad  to  stand  with  perfect 
quietude  and  restfulness  when  my  dear  Miss  Yaw  comes  to 
sing  to  me.  As  soon  as  she  holds  up  her  hand  and  looks  at 
me  I  know  she  is  going  to  pour  out  a  sweet  song  that  will 
delight  me,  so  I  listen  with  all  my  attention.  And  she  never 
has  to  wait  for  my  appreciation.  I  go  right  up  to  her  and  kiss 
her  my  thanks  for  her  song  as  soon  as  she  has  done  singing. 

[25] 


Another  thing  I  enjoy  amazingly.  Quite  as  well  as  I  like 
music,  I  like  to  go  out  and  stand  in  the  sun.  I  think  one  of  my 
far-away  ancestors  must  have  lived  in,  and  loved,  a  desert 
country  where  the  sun  shone  all  the  time,  for  I  am  never  so 
happy  as  when  Jasper  allows  me  to  go  out  and  stand  where 
the  beams  of  the  sun  come  straight  down  upon  my  back.  It 
feels  so  good,  and  it  soothes  me  so  that  I  like  to  enjoy  it  and 
go  to  sleep  enjoying  it.  And  if  they  would  allow  me  to,  I 
would  go  out  and  roll  in  the  sunshine,  and  then  lie  down,  as 
a  cat  does  before  the  fire,  reveling  in  the  warmth  and  going  to 
sleep  under  its  influence. 

Sometimes  people  wonder  how  I  make  my  wants  known, 
seeing  that  I  can't  speak.  With  my  master  and  Jasper  I  sel- 
dom have  any  trouble,  for  by  pawing  or  whinneying  I  arrest 
their  attention,  and  then  there  are  many  things  I  need  that  they 
quickly  ask  about.  If  they  think  I  want  water,  they  ask: 
"Water?"  If  I  want  it,  I  nod;  if  not,  I  shake  my  head.  And 
so  with  going  out,  untying  me,  giving  me  more  air — for  I  like 
plenty  of  fresh  air — or  anything  else  I  may  desire. 

There  are  some  people  who  think  I  don't  like  to  give  per- 
formances. I'm  sure  I  don't  know  why,  except  that  I  do  get 
tired  a  little  once  in  a  while,  and  sometimes  my  master  wants 
me  to  be  quiet  and  good  when  I  feel  frisky  and  frolicsome  and 
want  to  kick  up  my  heels.  I  always  feel  better  the  busier  I  am, 
and  I  remember  one  day  in  San  Francisco,  when  we  gave 
nineteen  performances,  I  was  so  full  of  fun  and  spirits  when 
we  got  through  that  Jasper  had  to  be  pretty  stern  with  me 
before  I  would  quieten  down. 

Another  thing  that  amuses  me.  People  often  ask  if  I  ever 
eat  anything  besides  oats  and  hay,  and  things  of  that  kind. 
It  amuses  me  because  I  like  everything,  just  as  most  healthy 
boys  and  girls  do.  I  eat  bread  and  butter — and  I  like  it  with 
jam  on  or  sugar  or  honey — and  hard  boiled  eggs,  and  nuts, 
and  every  kind  of  fruit,  raw,  cooked  or  preserved.  Candies 
I  just  dote  on,  and  vegetables  come  as  a  welcome  change.  I 
can  eat  them  raw  or  cooked,  hot  or  cold,  and  I  don't  object  to 
lettuce  put  in  sandwiches. 

Sandwiches?  Of  course  I  eat  them:  ham,  beef,  chicken  or 
tongue,  with  mustard  or  without.  And  nothing  I  like  better, 
at  times,  than  a  ham  bone  to  gnaw  on.  Sometimes  Prince — 
Jasper's  pet  dog — brings  one  in  and  shares  it  with  me,  and  I 
enjoy  it  amazingly. 

But  one  of  my  special  delicacies  is  cake.  My  dear  mistress, 
Mrs.  Sigsbee,  long  ago  found  that  out,  and  whenever  she  wants 
to  make  me  feel  extra  good  she  makes  a  cake  for  me.  My! 

[26] 


My !  She  is  a  fine  cake-maker.  One  day  she  had  made  a  large 
cake  for  a  party.  I  think  it  was  Master's  birthday,  and  they 
had  invited  a  lot  of  friends.  That  day  Master  loosed  me  from 
the  stable  and  sent  me  up  to  the  house  to  see  Mistress.  Some- 
times he  does  this,  and  trusts  me  to  go  directly  there.  I  did 
so  this,  time,  and  when  I  got  into  the  yard  I  went  right  to  the 
kitchen  window,  which  was  open,  and  through  which  a  delicious 
odor  came.  Right  there  on  the  table  was  the  cake.  It  was 
this  that  smelled  so  good.  I  put  my  nose  close  to  it  and  it 
made  my  mouth  water.  There  was  no  one  there  to  tell  me 
not  to  do  it,  so  I  just  bit  right  into  the  middle  of  it,  took  a 
large  mouthful,  and  it — what  do  the  boys  say — "went  to  the 
right  spot."  The  trouble  was  that  first  mouthful  whetted  my 
appetite  for  more,  and  I  had  made  a  pretty  big  hole  in  that 
cake  before  Mistress  came  in  and  found  what  I  had  done.  She 
drove  me  away,  but  began  to  laugh  so  heartily  that  when 
Master  came  running,  in  answer  to  her  call,  she  could  scarcely 
speak.  She  could  just  point  to  the  cake  and  to  me.  There 
I  was,  with  cake  crumbs  and  jam  or  jelly  all  over  my  nose 
and  in  my  whiskers,  and  Mistress  at  last  managed  to  gasp  out, 
between  laughs,  "Captain's  celebrating  your  birthday.  He  likes 
cake,  too !" 

At  first  Master  was  inclined  to  be  mad,  but  Mistress  laughed 
him  out  of  it,  and  said  why  shouldn't  I  like  birthday  cake  as 
well  as  he.  She'd  make  another,  and  even  if  she  couldn't,  she 
would  buy  one.  Then  she  put  the  rest  of  the  cake  away,  and 
every  day  for  another  week  I  had  a  chance  again  to  celebrate 
Master's  birthday. 

Do  I  ever  get  ugly-tempered? 

I  think  I  can  truthfully  answer  that  I  do  not  show  temper 
very  often.  I  must  confess,  however,  that  now  and  again  I 
am  not  as  well-dispositioned  as  I  generally  am.  Sometimes  I 
feel  a  little  out  of  sorts,  and  then  I  act  up  just  as  a  naughty 
boy  or  girl  does.  I  want  my  Master  to  hurry  up  my  perform- 
ance and  let  me  get  away,  and  I  bungle  and  stumble  and  do 
the  very  thing  I  ought  not  to  do.  When  I  feel  like  this  and 
have  to  pick  out  the  colors,  I  grab  the  cloth  viciously,  and 
sometimes  deliberately  take  the  wrong  one,  or  slam  the  drawer 
of  the  cash-register,  and  when  it  comes  to  playing  the  chimes 
it  is  too  funny  the  way  I  find  myself  acting.  When  I  reach  the 
last  few  notes  I  hit  them  one  after  another  as  fast  as  I  can, 
and  then  run  around  the  stage  to  show  Master  I  am  impatient 
to  get  away.  I  suppose  boys  and  girls  get  that  way  in  school 
sometimes.  Anyhow  that  is  what  Master  and  some  of  the 
people  who  come  to  see  me  say,  and  I  can  well  believe  it,  for 

[27] 


there  is  not  so  much  difference  between  my  actions  and  those 
of  boys  and  girls,  if  people  could  only  understand  them  aright. 

One  day  Jasper  brought  a  pigeon  into  the  stable.  I  heard 
him  say  a  lady  had  given  it  to  him.  We  soon  became  the  best 
of  friends.  The  pigeon  would  coo  to  me  and  come  onto  my 
feeding  rack,  and  I  would  nuzzle  up  to  her  and  whinney.  She 
flies  about  me  and  lights  on  my  head  and  struts  up  and  down 
my  neck  and  back,  and  I  just  enjoy  it.  We  often  go  to  sleep 
together,  I  with  my  head  close  up  against  the  pigeon,  she  snug- 
gling close  to  my  soft  nose.  I  feel  so  much  better  now  that 
I  have  so  nice  a  companion.  I  am  not  so  nervous  when  I  hear 
strange  footsteps,  or  just  before  we  are  going  to  have  a  show. 

Sometimes  I  am  so  full  of  fun  and  frolic  that  my  Master 
lets  me  play  awhile.  Then  I  just  enjoy  running  about  the 
stage,  kicking  up  my  heels,  showing  my  teeth  at  people,  and 
making  believe  I  am  very  savage,  hitting  a  note  on  the  chimes, 
and  dashing  across  to  the  cash  register,  opening  the  drawer  and 
ringing  the  bell,  and  then  picking  up  a  colored  cloth  in  my 
teeth  and  shaking  it  as  if  I  were  angry.  But  as  soon  as  I  have 
had  enough  of  this  I  quieted  down,  and  we  go  ahead  with  a 
"show"  as  steadily  as  can  be.  You  see,  my  Master  under- 
stands me,  and  doesn't  all  the  time  feel  that  he  has  to  hold  me 
in  to  make  me  "behave" — as  people  call  it.  I'd  like  to  know 
why  I  shouldn't  have  high  spirits  and  be  happy  and  jolly,  if 
any  horse  on  earth  should.  I'm  well  cared  for  day  and  night ; 
I  have  all  I  want  to  eat  of  the  very  best  that  money  can  buy; 
I  am  housed  in  the  most  comfortable  stable  that  can  be  hired, 
with  plenty  of  good,  clean  bedding,  and  a  rug  to  keep  me  warm 
at  night;  I  have  my  companions,  the  pigeon,  and  Prince,  the 
fox  terrier,  and  Jasper  is  on  hand  all  the  time,  so  why  shouldn't 
I  be  full  of  frolic.  That  comes  from  being  happy  and  healthy, 
and  any  one  with  sense  can  see  that  I  am  both,  for  my  eyes 
are  clear,  my  breath  is  sweet,  my  skin  is  clean  and  I  am  full  of 
life  and  spirits. 

My  Master  is  good  to  me  and  I  love  him  very  dearly,  but  I 
am  free  to  confess  I  have  a  special  affection  for  Madame  Ellis's 
little  girl.  She  is  about  ten  years  old,  and  we  are  real  chums. 
Her  name  is  Margaret.  She  comes  nearly  every  day  to  see 
me,  and  she  pets  me,  and  I  pet  her.  She  brings  me  sugar  and 
apples,  and  then  after  I  have  eaten  them  she  sits  on  my  back, 
and  after  a  while  we  play  circus.  She  takes  her  shoes  off — so 
that  she  won't  hurt  me — and  stands  on  me,  walks  from  my 
shoulders  to  my  tail,  standing  either  looking  frontwards  or 
backwards,  and  I  walk  around  carefully  so  as  not  to  make  her 
fall.  And  when  we  get  through  she  hugs  and  kisses  me,  and 

[28] 


I  like  it  amazingly  and  kiss  her  back,  and  would  hug  her  if  I 
knew  just  how  to  do  it. 

And  now  I  have  told  my  story.  Now  that  the  San  Diego 
Exposition  is  over  my  master,  I  expect,  will  take  me  all  over 
the  country,  so  that  more  people  may  see  me  and  become  inter- 
ested in  my  education.  He  feels  that  the  performances  I  give 
will  interest  children  and  those  who  have  to  handle  horses 
and  thus  lead  them  to  treat  all  horses  with  more  respect  and 
kindness.  When  human  beings  feel  that  horses  have  intelli- 
gence,— no  matter  how  small  in  quantity,  or  good  in  quality 
it  may  be, — they  will  act  differently  towards  them.  It  will 
lead  them  to  be  more  tolerant,  patient  and  kind. 

We  hope  to  work  with  all  the  Humane  Associations  and 
Societies  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  for  my 
master  knows,  as  I  also  well  know,  that  when  children  and 
teamsters  see  me  and  watch  what  I  can  do,  their  hearts  become 
more  gentle  towards  all  animals,  and  thus  the  day  is  hastened 
when  kindness  and  love  shall  reign  supreme  upon  the  earth. 


[29] 


HOW  I  BOUGHT  AND  TRAINED  CAPTAIN 

By  His  Owner,  W.  A. 


(EDITOR'S  INTRODUCTION.  To  render  the  story  of  Captain 
complete  it  was  essential  that  the  reader  should  know  something  of  his 
trainer,  his  educator,  the  man  to  whose  enthusiasm  and  ability  we  owe 
the  pleasure  the  horse  has  afforded  us.  Consequently  I  have  questioned 
Capt.  Sigsbee,  again  and  again,  as  to  his  methods  and  the  story  which 
here  follows  contains  his  answers  to  these  many  questionings  which  I 
have  put  into  consecutive  and  readable  form,  but,  as  nearly  as  is  pos- 
sible, in  his  own  words.) 

I  was  brought  up  in  the  horse  business.  My  father  and 
uncles  were  horsemen  before  I  was  born.  They  lived  in  Dane 
County,  Wisconsin,  twelve  miles  from  Madison,  and  there  I 
first  saw  the  light.  One  of  my  uncles  had  trotting  horses,  and 
almost  as  soon  as  I  could  do  anything  I  used  to  go  and  help 
him.  When  I  was  fourteen  years  old  I  was  regularly  employed 
by  him  during  my  vacations,  to  help  on  the  farm,  in  the  stables, 
and  to  accompany  him  to  the  trotting  track.  I  soon  learned  to 
ride,  as  a  jockey,  and  up  to  the  time  I  was  eighteen  years  old 
that  was  my  occupation.  Then  I  began  to  work  for  myself. 
I  bought,  educated  or  trained,  and  then  sold  horses  and  dogs. 
I  was  much  interested  in  them,  and  always  seemed  to  have  fair 
success  in  their  management. 

As  I  grew  older  I  used  to  go  with  my  own  horses  to  the 
County  and  State  Fairs,  the  latter  being  held  at  Madison. 
When  I  was  twenty-four  years  old  I  married,  settled  down  on 
a  farm,  and  as  horse-trading  seemed  to  be  the  business  I  was 
especially  adapted  for,  naturally  I  followed  it.  Whenever  my 
neighbors  wanted  a  horse  that  was  extra  well  trained  they 
would  come  to  me,  and  if  I  showed  them  one  that  could  do  a 
few  tricks,  they  liked  it  none  the  less,  and  were  not  unwilling 
to  pay  a  little  extra  for  the  pains  I  had  taken. 

The  year  after  I  was  married  I  moved  to  Humboldt,  Iowa, 
where  I  bought  another  farm  and  for  four  more  years  con- 
tinued my  work  as  farmer  and  horse-trader.  Then  I  bought 
the  Park  Hotel,  in  the  town  of  Humboldt,  which  I  ran  for 
eleven  years,  never,  however,  for  one  moment  losing  my  inter- 
est in  horses.  In  fact,  it  was  one  of  the  most  profitable  parts 
of  my  business.  Many  farmers,  show-men,  circus-men  and 

[30] 


others  came  to  the  town  and  stopped  at  my  hotel,  so  I  was 
never  away  from  the  atmosphere  of  the  horse  ring.  Many  a 
time,  when  they  were  in  a  tight  place,  the  show,  or  circus  men 
would  come  and  ask  me  to  help  them  out,  for  my  reputation 
as  a  trainer  had  spread,  and  it  was  pretty  generally  understood 
that  I  was  an  exceptional  hand  for  teaching  horses  and  dogs 
rather  unusual  and  interesting  tricks. 

In  time  the  great  circus-masters,  like  Barnum  and  Bailey,  Al 
Ringland  and  others,  came  to  me  and  asked  me  to  train  horses 
for  them,  so  that  my  horse  business  grew,  and  with  it  my  repu- 
tation. Naturally  I  was  always  on  the  look  out  for  colts  that 
promised  well,  or  horses  that  seemed  extra  intelligent,  and  my 
eyes  were  keen  for  mares  that  showed  a  superior  order  of 
intelligence  that  were  soon  to  have  colts. 

About  this  time  my  eyes  were  attracted  to  a  beautiful  mare, 
evidently  with  foal.  No  sooner  did  I  see  her  than  I  wanted 
her.  I  found  on  inquiry  that  she  had  been  bred  to  a  spotted 
Arabian,  as  fine  and  beautiful  a  creature  as  she  herself  was. 
Satisfied  that  she  was  what  I  wanted,  I  purchased  her.  Already 
I  had  begun  to  speculate  as  to  what  I  should  do  with  her  colt. 
If  it  was  a  prettily  shaped  animal,  was  as  intelligent  as  the 
father  and  mother,  I  decided  it  should  receive  the  best  education 
I  was  capable  of  giving.  As  the  days  of  the  mare's  time  passed 
I  grew  more  and  more  anxious.  My  hopes  were  raised  high, 
and  I  was  correspondingly  expectant  and  at  the  same  time 
afraid.  What  if  the  colt  should  prove  stupid?  I  awaited  the 
birth  of  that  colt  as  eagerly  as  a  royal  family  awaits  the  birth 
of  the  child  of  a  king,  hence  you  can  understand  my  delight 
and  satisfaction,  when  the  little  lady  came,  that  I  found  her 
faultless  in  appearance,  neat,  trim,  dainty  and  beautiful,  with 
intelligent  eyes  and  face  and  every  indication  of  being  a  most 
superior  animal. 

From  the  hour  of  her  birth  I  watched  her  far  more  closely 
than  many  a  child  is  watched.  I  was  in  and  out  of  the  stable 
a  score  of  times  a  day.  While  she  appeared  intelligent,  I  wanted 
to  know  with  certainty  as  soon  as  I  could.  I  was  not  long  in 
discovering,  and  this  was  how  it  was  done.  My  barn  had 
double  doors — one  on  each  side.  As  it  was  warm  weather  I 
had  both  doors  open  to  allow  a  current  of  air  through  the 
building.  When  the  colt  was  four  or  five  days  old,  I  wished 
to  hitch  up  the  mare  and  drive  her,  but  did  not  think  it  wise 
to  let  so  small  and  young  a  colt  go  along.  So  I  closed  the 
doors  and  left  her  inside.  She  became  much  excited  at  being 
separated  from  her  mother;  ran  around  wildly,  whinnied,  and 
generally  fretted.  But  I  felt  she  would  have  to  learn  to  lose 

[31] 


her  mother,  so  I  drove  away  and  left  her  to  fight  it  out  as  best 
she  could. 

The  next  day  I  went  into  the  barn  and  groomed  down  the 
mare,  the  colt  apparently  paying  no  attention,  but  the  moment 
I  took  the  harness  from  its  peg  and  began  to  put  it  upon  the 
mother  the  little  miss  ran  out  of  doors.  I  thought  I  had 
scared  her  in  some  way  and  paid  no  particular  attention,  but 
when  I  was  ready  to  drive  away  and  tried  to  get  her  back  into 
the  barn  she  positively  refused  to  go  or  be  driven.  She  was 
as  resolved  to  stay  out  as  I  was  to  have  her  go  in,  and  it  was 
only  when  I  secured  additional  help  that  I  was  able  to  get  her 
inside. 

The  same  thing  occurred  on  the  following  day,  and  then  I 
began  to  suspect  that  the  colt  knew  as  well  as  I  did  what  was 
going  on,  and  was  resolved  not  to  be  left  behind.  So  I  called 
to  my  wife  to  come  and  watch  with  me,  while  we  experimented. 
So  long  as  I  merely  fussed  around  with  the  mare,  cleaning 
her,  etc.,  it  was  all  right,  but  the  moment  I  touched  the  harness 
and  made  it  appear  I  was  going  to  hitch  up,  out  shot  the  colt 
from  the  barn  in  a  moment.  We  tried  this  out  a  dozen  times 
and  always  with  the  same  result.  This  occurred  when  she  was 
nine  days  old,  and  with  conviction  I  turned  to  my  wife  and 
exclaimed:  "She'll  do,  the  little  Trixy;  she's  got  brains,  and 
Til  begin  to  train  her  right  away."  Thus  she  got  her  name, 
and  I  started  upon  her  education. 

In  my  past  experience  I  had  taught  many  horses  to  respond 
to  questions  with  a  Yes  or  No,  to  paw  out  numbers,  to  kiss  me, 
to  sit  down,  lie  down,  roll  over,  and  other  similar  simple  tricks. 
I  would  ask  if  they  would  like  a  drink,  a  feed  of  oats,  a  lump 
of  sugar,  etc.,  and  teach  them  how  to  answer  with  a  nod  of 
the  head,  and  with  a  shake  when  I  asked :  "Shall  I  whip  you?" 
or  "I  guess  you  don't  want  any  feed  today,"  but  with  Trixey 
I  determined  to  go  further  than  this  and  see  if  she  really  could 
be  trained,  or,  better  still,  educated  in  any  degree. 

Thus  began  Trixey's  education,  which  continued  persistently 
for  eighteen  months.  Every  day  I  kept  at  it,  and  it  might  be 
interesting  here  to  state  that  while  I  was  educating  Trixey, 
she  was  educating  me.  I  learned  a  great  deal  about  horses 
and  horse  nature  in  those  eighteen  months.  In  due  time  I  had 
trained  her  so  that  she  could  pick  out  numbers  on  call,  colors, 
could  add,  subtract,  multiply  and  divide ;  could  count  with  her 
feet,  sit  in  a  chair,  on  my  lap,  and  answer  questions. 

I  then  decided  to  take  her  out  on  the  road  and  give  exhibi- 
tions with  her.  But  first  of  all  I  decided  to  give  a  test  exhibi- 
tion at  our  County  Fair,  at  Humboldt,  my  own  town.  Of 

[32] 


course  I  was  well  known,  and  my  horse-training  proclivities 
were  the  subject  of  conversation  all  throughout  the  country, 
but  few  knew  how  much  I  had  accomplished  with  Trixey. 
Hence  that  first  appearance  was  a  great  surprise  to  my  neigh- 
bors. Needless  to  say,  it  was  also  a  wonderful  success.  Every 
one  was  delighted  with  the  exhibition  and  marveled  at  the 
intelligence  the  beautiful  little  creature  displayed. 

I  now  started  to  go  throughout  the  country  with  confidence. 
I  knew  what  Trixey  could  do  and  what  the  effect  of  the  exhibi- 
tion would  be  upon  an  audience.  In  those  days  an  educated 
horse  was  unknown.  There  were  a  few  trained  circus  horses, 
but  a  horse  like  mine  excited  great  wonder  and  interest.  My 
method  was  to  go  to  County  and  other  Fairs,  explain  what 
Trixey  could  do,  and  I  would  undertake  to  exhibit  her  before 
the  grand  stand  between  races.  The  Fair  Associations  would 
engage  me,  and  thus  I  would  earn  a  good  financial  return. 

Soon  after  we  began  to  travel  I  changed  the  colt's  name  to 
Princess  Trixey,  and  this  was  the  name  by  which  she  was  ever 
afterwards  known.  About  this  time  I  came  in  contact  with 
William  Harrison  Barnes,  of  Sioux  City.  He  had  been  a  news- 
paper reporter,  but  was  naturally  a  showman,  and  shortly 
before  I  met  him  he  had  drifted  into  the  show  business.  He 
was  exhibiting  such  horses  as  "The  Pacing  Wonder,"  "Johnny, 
the  Guideless  Wonder,"  and  when  he  saw  the  Princess  there 
was  nothing  for  it  but  that  he  should  become  my  partner  and 
go  along  with  us.  For  four  years  we  traveled  together,  Barnes 
making  the  business  arrangements  for  our  appearance  at  Car- 
nivals, State  Fairs,  Amusement  Parks,  and  under  the  auspices 
of  various  organizations.  Then  I  sold  Princess  Trixey  to  him, 
continuing  to  travel  with  him  for  four  years,  after  which  I 
returned  to  Humboldt,  bought  another  farm  and  for  two  or 
three  years  did  a  little  desultory  training  of  horses,  as  before. 

Let  me  here,  in  parenthesis,  tell  of  Princess  Trixey's  unfor- 
tunate end.  Barnes  showed  her  all  over  the  country  to  the 
great  delight  of  all  who  ever  saw  her,  until  about  ten  years 
ago,  when  she  was  killed  in  a  railway  wreck  at  Baltimore. 

Soon  after  my  return  to  Humboldt  I  was  urged  by  Dode 
Fisk,  of  Wonewoc,  Wis.,  to  plan  and  organize  for  him  a  show 
of  trained  horses,  dogs,  monkeys,  etc.,  with  a  one-ringed  circus. 
I  did  so,  doing  all  the  training  of  the  animals  myself.  When 
we  were  ready  to  travel  we  had  a  sixteen-wagon  show  and  I 
was  appointed  the  arenic  director.  For  four  years  I  occupied 
this  position,  helping  build  up  the  show  all  the  time,  and  at  the 
end  of  three  years  we  ceased  traveling  in  wagons  and  became 
an  eleven-car  railway  show.  It  was  my  regular  duty  to  keep 

[33] 


the  animals  in  good  condition,  see  that  they  were  healthy  and 
kept  up  to  their  work,  and  to  train  any  new  stock  we  might  buy. 

Four  years  of  this  life  tired  my  wife,  and  she  expressed  the 
desire  to  get  away  from  a  large  show.  She  wanted  a  rest  at 
home,  she  said,  and  then,  if  I  desired  to  travel  she  suggested  I 
buy  a  young  horse  or  a  colt,  train  or  educate  it,  and  we  would 
travel  with  that,  without  all  the  hard  work,  flurry  and  daily 
excitement  attendant  upon  a  large  show. 

In  the  main  I  agreed  with  my  wife  and,  anyhow,  I  felt  that 
she  ought  to  be  considered  as  much  as  myself,  so  I  began  look- 
ing out  for  such  a  horse  as  I  had  in  mind.  I  wanted  another 
Trixey  or,  better,  but  scarcely  hoped  to  find  one  very  soon,  or 
very  easily.  I  was  nearer  to  the  end  of  my  search,  however, 
than  I  supposed,  for  almost  immediately  I  heard  of  just  such  a 
colt  as  I  was  looking  for  at  Oregon,  111.  Right  away  I  went 
to  see  him,  and  there,  to  my  unspeakable  delight,  I  found 
Captain.  His  owner  was  Judge  Cartwright,  a  great  lover  of 
and  breeder  of  good  horses.  Captain  was  of  standard  bred 
trotting  stock,  and  was  half  brother  to  the  famous  Sydney 
Dillon.  His  sire  was  the  well-known  horse  Syed  and  his  dam 
was  the  almost  equally  well  known  Robey.  At  first  sight  he 
pleased  me  immensely,  and  I  sought  to^gain  all  the  information 
possible  about  him.  I  learned  that  as  a  colt  he  was  very 
friendly  and  playful,  showing  keen  intelligence.  He  also  pos- 
sessed great  speed,  sometimes  pacing  in  the  pasture  as  fast  as 
his  mother  could  run.  This  had  led  his  owner,  as  soon  as  he 
was  two  years  old,  to  train  him  for  ninety  days  for  the  devel- 
opment of  speed,  so  that  he  was  able  to  step  his  mile  in  2:16. 
He  undoubtedly  would  have  made  a  fast  pacing  horse  with 
further  training.  But  fate  had  another  destiny  in  store  for 
him.  I  resolved  to  buy  him.  Naturally  Judge  Cartwright 
hated  to  part  with  so  promising  an  animal,  but  I  candidly  laid 
my  heart's  desire  before  him.  I  showed  him  the  influence  it 
would  have  upon  the  rising  generation  if  I  could  demonstrate 
that  animals  can  reason,  that  they  are  capable  of  thought. 
Then  I  expatiated  upon  the  easier  life  Captain  himself  would 
live  than  if  he  were  to  become  a  regular  race-horse,  and  I 
appealed  to  the  feeling  of  pride  he — the  judge — would  possess 
were  I  successful — as  I  knew  I  should  be — at  having  introduced 
so  world-famous  a  horse  as  Captain  would  become,  that  he  had 
bred  and  reared.  And,  finally,  to  clinch  the  matter,  I  produced 
a  certified  check  for  a  thousand  dollars,  which  I  placed  in  his 
hand. 

Thus  the  purchase  was  made,  with  the  express  understanding 
that  Judge  Cartwright  should  always  be  given  the  credit  for 
the  raising  of  Captain. 

[34] 


Perhaps  here  I  ought  to  state  that  the  colt's  name  up  to  this 
time  had  been  Sid  Bell.  As  I  felt  my  whole  future  life's  work 
and  fame  were  going  to  center  on  this  beautiful,  young  and 
intelligent  creature,  I  renamed  him,  calling  him  by  the  name 
by  which  I  was  known  to  all  my  professional  associates,  Cap- 
tain Sigsbee. 

It  was  not  long  before  we  became  intimately  acquainted.  He 
was  a  handsome  fellow,  a  dappled  chestnut,  fifteen  and  one- 
half  hands  high,  with  broad  forehead,  large,  intelligent  eyes, 
well-shaped  ears,  deep,  sensitive  nostrils,  mobile  mouth,  strong 
nose,  a  most  pleasing  face,  and  perfectly  formed  in  every  way. 

I  was  satisfied  from  the  first  that  in  Captain  I  had  a  great 
subject  for  education.  Already  I  began  to  plan  what  I  would 
teach  him.  I  was  assured  I  could  go  far  beyond  anything  I 
had  hitherto  done,  even  with  the  clever  Trixey.  One  day  in 
conversation  with  a  group  of  horsemen,  among  whom  was  Al 
Ringland,  the  great  circus  master,  I  stated  some  of  my  expec- 
tations. Ringland  laughed  at  me,  especially  when  I  declared 
my  intention  of  so  educating  a  horse  that  he  could  do  things 
blindfolded.  He  freely  declared  that  he  had  no  faith  in  horse 
education.  He  believed  that  horses  could  be  trained  only  under 
the  whip  and  spur.  Said  he :  "I  know  you've  done  some 
wonderful  things  with  Trixey,  but  animals  are  animals,  and 
I  don't  believe  that  you  can  educate  them.  Let  me  give  you 
some  advice.  Don't  waste  your  time.  Many  a  man  has  gone 
crazy  by  allowing  a  fool  idea  like  this  of  yours  to  take  posses- 
sion of  him." 

I  defended  my  ideas,  however,  and  argued  that  my  years 
of  study  of  the  horse  had  revealed  things  of  horse-nature  and 
character  few  even  dreamed  of.  I  was  sure  they  could  think 
and  reason.  Everybody  knew  that  they  had  memory,  and  I 
was  satisfied  that  I  could  educate  this,  or  any  other  intelligent 
horse,  to  use  his  reason,  no  matter  how  small  it  was — in  other 
words  to  think. 

Ringland  listened  with  interest,  but  made  no  pretense  to 
hide  his  doubts,  and  again  said  I  was  going  crazy  when  I 
affirmed  my  positive  conviction  that  I  could,  and  would,  train 
Captain  to  take  and  obey  orders  blindfolded.  He  was  certain 
it  never  could  be  done. 

How  well  I  have  succeeded  the  hundreds  of  thousands  who 
have  seen  Captain  can  best  tell.  It  may  also  be  interesting  to 
recount  Mr.  Ringland's  expressions  when  he  saw  Captain 
sometime  after  I  began  to  give  exhibitions  with  him.  He 
said:  "I  confess  myself  beaten,  Sigsbee,  I  take  off  my  hat 
to  you.  What  you  have  accomplished  will  be  a  revelation  to 

[35] 


the  world,  as  it  has  been  to  me.  In  spite  of  my  years  of  associa- 
tion with  horses  I  never  dreamed  they  had  such  powers  in 
them.  You  have  opened  my  eyes,  and  as  others  begin  to  see 
they  will  treat  their  animals  with  greater  consideration,  they 
will  think  more  favorably  of  them,  and  no  longer  treat  them 
as  if  they  were  mere  brute  instruments  of  their  will  or  pleas- 
ure, without  feeling  or  intelligence." 

Mr.  Ringland  well  stated  what  it  has  been  one  of  my  con- 
stant endeavors  to  bring  about.  I  have  always  loved  horses. 
I  wanted  to  see  them  better  treated,  and  it  is  with  great  satis- 
faction that  I  am  learning  every  day  that  my  exhibitions  with 
Princess  Trixey  and  now  with  Captain  are  bearing  this  kind 
of  fruit. 

When  my  purchase  of  the  colt  was  completed,  I  took  him 
to  my  training  barn  in  Chicago  and  there  began  his  education. 
The  first  thing  to  do  was  to  get  well  acquainted  and  gain  his 
affection.  This  was  done  by  giving  him  plenty  to  eat,  the 
best  of  care,  speaking  gently  and  kindly  to  him,  petting  him, 
and  giving  him  dainties  now  and  again,  such  as  carrots,  apples 
and  sugar.  My  friends  and  acquaintances  often  laughed  at 
me,  and  said  I  should  never  accomplish  what  I  was  after, 
but  I  persevered.  They  knew  I  was  wasting  time,  money  and 
energy  for  nothing,  but  "I  know"  that  what  "they  knew" 
wasn't  so. 

It  did  not  take  Captain  long  to  learn  that  I  was  kind  to 
him ;  that  I  was  his  true  and  wise  friend ;  and  was  to  be  relied 
upon.  These  are  three  things,  the  importance  of  which  I 
cannot  over-estimate.  Many  people  try  to  be  kind  to  ani- 
mals, but  they  are  not  wise  in  their  treatment,  and  they  are 
not  to  be  relied  upon.  I  knew  that  Captain  trusted  me  for 
the  little  extra  dainties  he  enjoyed.  I  never  disappointed  him. 
I  never  lied  to  him — that  is  promised  him  anything  I  did  not 
intend  to  perform,  and  thus  he  soon  learned  I  was  to  be 
trusted. 

When  left  alone  he  became  very  uneasy.  Like  children  he 
wanted  companionship  of  some  kind,  so  I  hired  a  groom,  Chili 
by  name,  whose  duty  was  to  remain  with  Captain,  day  and 
night.  He  was  never  to  attempt  to  teach  the  horse  anything, 
as  that  would  lead  to  confusion,  but  was  to  care  for  him  and 
be  his  companion  at  all  times.  Chili  remained  with  him  for 
several  years  and  they  became  very  fond  of  each  other.  I 
should  never  have  parted  with  him,  but  when  we  came  to 
San  Francisco,  he  got  careless  and  I  had  to  let  him  go.  Then 
I  was  fortunate  enough  to  secure  an  equally  good  man  in  his 
present  groom,  Jasper.  Jasper  is  a  natural-born  horseman. 

[36] 


He  has  ridden,  broken,  and  owned  some  very  famous  horses, 
and  has  been  on  the  track  for  years,  hence  he  thoroughly 
understands  horse-nature,  and  he  and  Captain  get  along 
famously. 

As  I  have  before  explained  Captain  likes  company.  He 
strongly  resents  being  left  alone.  Every  night-time  before 
he  goes  to  sleep  he  listens  for  the  footsteps  of  his  groom  and 
if  he  is  not  there  he  signifies  his  disapproval  by  pawing,  whin- 
neying,  etc.,  and  generally  keeps  it  up  until  Jasper- returns  and 
talks  to  him.  Then,  content  and  restful,  he  goes  to  sleep. 

Once,  when  he  was  being  brought  south  by  rail,  Jasper  had 
to  leave  him  in  the  Los  Angeles  freight  yards — still  in  his  car — 
to  see  that  their  tickets  were  properly  endorsed,  and  he  was 
gone  for  a  half  an  hour  or  more.  When  he  returned  poor 
Captain  was  in  a  complete  lather  of  perspiration.  The  unusual 
noises  of  the  railroad  yard  in  a  large  city,  as  he  was  shut 
up  in  a  car  so  that  he  could  not  see,  had  fretted  him  into  a 
frenzy.  As  soon  as  the  groom  returned  he  signified  his  satis- 
faction with  whinneyings  and  nose-rubbings  and  in  a  very 
short  time  was  cool  again. 

Every  night  before  he  lies  down  and  goes  to  sleep,  he  peeks 
out  to  see  if  Jasper  is  there.  If  not,  he  awaits  his  return,  and 
then  stretches  out  with  his  head  towards  the  place  where  Jasper 
sleeps. 

Soon  after  we  arrived  in  San  Diego  a  lady  presented  Jasper 
with  a  pigeon.  The  bird  was  taken  to  the  stable,  and  Captain 
became  much  interested  in  her.  As  the  pigeon  perched  on  the 
partition  he  reached  up  and  nuzzled  it  in  the  most  affectionate 
manner.  Not  only  did  the  pigeon  not  resent  it,  but  she 
seemed  actually  to  enjoy  it,  showing  no  fear  or  desire  to  get 
away.  Now  they  are  almost  inseparable  friends,  and  Captain 
spends  hours  with  his  head  upon  the  partition,  snuggling  close 
up  to  the  bird.  Prior  to  its  coming,  Captain  often  showed 
considerable  nervousness  when  he  heard  strange  footsteps 
approaching  his  stable,  or  just  before  a  performance,  but  the 
presence  of  the  pigeon  has  changed  this.  Its  mere  presence  is 
a  soothing  influence,  and  when  the  show  is  over  he  goes  back 
to  the  stable  and  greets  his  bird  friend  with  evident  pleasure 
and  affection. 

One  of  my  experiences  with  Captain  demonstrated  his 
superior  intelligence  over  most  horses.  My  training  barn  was 
two  stories  high,  and  a  wide  pair  of  stairs  led  from  the  ground 
to  the  second  floor.  When  my  grandson  was  born  Captain 
took  a  great  liking  for  him.  He  loved  to  "kiss"  him  and 
nuzzle  him  while  he  was  in  the  cradle,  or  baby-buggy,  or  even 

[37] 


in  his  nurse's  arms.  As  the  child  grew  older  we  used  to  place 
him  on  Captain's  back  and  Captain  would  march  back  and 
forth,  as  proudly  as  a  king,  apparently  conscious  of  the  trust 
we  placed  in  him. 

One  day  while  I  was  working  with  Captain  the  child  was 
in  the  barn,  and  he  kept  going  up  and  down  the  stairs.  I 
noticed  that  Captain's  attention  was  more  often  fixed  upon  the 
child  than  upon  me  and  he  seemed  much  interested.  Some- 
one called  me  away  for  a  few  moments,  and  when  I  returned 
there  was  no  Captain  to  be  seen.  Then  I  heard  a  peculiar 
noise  from  above,  and  looking  up,  what  should  I  see  but 
Captain  following  the  child  up  the  stairs.  I  am  free  to  confess 
I  got  scared,  for  I  couldn't  see  how  I  could  get  him  down. 
But  I  went  up,  controlled  my  fears,  and  then  quietly  talked 
to  Captain  and  told  him  he'd  come  up  the  stairs  and  now  he'd 
have  to  go  down  them.  And  I  backed  him  down,  a  step  at  a 
time,  as  easily  and  as  safely  as  could  be.  And,  strange  to  say, 
ever  after  that,  whenever  he  wanted  to  go  upstairs  I  let  him, 
and  he  came  down  alone.  I  never  had  to  back  him  down 
again.  He  comes  down  that  way  of  his  own  volition. 

People  often  ask  me  how  I  train  an  animal.  Personally  I 
would  not  use  the  word  "train,"  in  speaking  of  such  a  horse 
as  Captain,  not  because  it  is  the  wrong  word,  but  because  it 
conveys  a  wrong  idea.  I  would  say  "educate,"  for  I  firmly 
believe  that  horses  and  dogs  and  elephants  and  other  animals 
possess  the  power  of  reason,  though,  of  course,  in  a  limited 
degree.  And  I  believe  that  by  patient  and  kindly  treatment 
we  can  "draw  out," — educate — the  intelligence  possessed. 

I  have  no  set  rules  or  fixed  system  by  which  I  work.  There 
are  a  few  principles  that  control  me.  First  of  all  I  study  the 
animal's  nature  and  disposition.  No  two  animals  are  alike, 
any  more  than  any  two  children  are  alike.  Some  animals  are 
very  nervous,  are  easily  excited,  while  others  are  placid  and 
docile  and  nothing  seems  to  disturb  them.  But  whatever  the 
natural  disposition  nothing  can  be  done  without  gaining  the 
animal's  complete  confidence.  This  I  do  by  uniformly  kind 
treatment.  I  always  speak  gently,  mildly,  never  angrily  or 
impatiently.  Then  I  pet  the  animal  at  every  opportunity, 
though  with  some,  one  must  approach  them  at  first,  cautiously. 
As  soon  as  possible  get  an  animal  accustomed  to  the  feel  of 
your  hands,  and  to  know  that  they  always  come  gently,  and 
with  soothing  effect.  Find  out  what  they  particularly  like  to 
eat,  and  every  once  in  a  while,  give  this  to  them  as  a  relish,  a 
luxury,  a  reward  for  something  well  done.  As  I  have  ex- 
plained elsewhere  horses  like  carrots,  apples  and  sugar.  Too 

[38] 


much  of  any  of  these,  however,  is  not  good,  as  their  natural 
food  is  grass,  hay,  cereals,  and  the  like.  Yet  it  should  never 
be  overlooked  that  a  horse,  like  a  man,  can  more  easily  be 
reached  through  his  stomach  than  any  other  way. 

Though  you  must  be  kind  you  must  also  be  firm.  Many 
people  confound  and  confuse  kindness  with  mushiness.  No 
animal  must  be  allowed  to  have  his  own  way,  when  that  way 
conflicts  with  his  master's  will.  (Yet  a  caution,  here,  is  neces- 
sary. One  who  is  training  either  a  horse  or  a  child  should 
remember  his  natural  proclivities  and  tendencies.  There  should 
be  no  attempt  to  "break  the  will."  It  is  to  be  trained,  dis- 
ciplined, brought  under  control.  Hence,  never  set  your  will 
against  the  will  of  your  animal  unless  it  is  in  a  matter  where 
you  know  you  are  right.)  For  instance,  if  a  horse  wants  to 
cut  up  and  frolic  when  you  wish  him  to  attend  to  business, 
there  are  two  ways  of  doing.  One  is  to  leave  him  alone  for 
awhile  and  then  firmly  bring  him  to  attention,  even  though  he 
still  desires  to  continue  his  fun.  Another  is  to  crush  the  spirit 
of  fun  and  frolic  and  not  allow  him  to  play  at  all.  This  latter 
method  is  unnatural,  unreasonable,  and  cruel,  and  therefore 
not  to  be  thought  of  for  one  moment  by  any  rational  or  kind 
man.  The  former  is  both  kind  and  disciplinary.  The  horse 
is  allowed  to  follow  his  natural  instincts,  but  is  also  taught  to 
control  them  at  his  master's  word.  This  is  training  and  edu- 
cation. A  third  method  is  to  allow  the  horse  to  frolic  to  his 
heart's  content  and  then  get  him  to  do  what  you  desire.  Here 
there  is  no  discipline  whatever.  This  is  the  way  of  "mushi- 
ness," and  it  is  often  followed  by  parents  and  others  in  han- 
dling their  children.  It  is  about  as  bad  as  the  cruel  method  of 
suppressing  the  natural  instincts,  for  an  uncontrolled  will  or 
appetite  soon  becomes  the  child's,  animal's,  or  man's  master, 
and  nothing  is  more  disastrous  than  such  a  bondage. 

Hence  be  firm  in  control.  It  is  not  necessary  to  whip  to 
punish.  A  horse,  as  well  as  a  child,  will  learn  self-control 
through  appetite,  or  the  giving  of  something  that  is  a  pleasure. 
Where  you  have  trouble  in  gaining  control,  or  where  the  ani- 
mal is  lazy,  hold  back  on  the  tidbit,  or  the  free  run,  or  some- 
thing of  the  kind  the  horse  enjoys.  He  will  soon  learn  to 
associate  the  loss  with  his  disobedience.  Equally  so  be  prompt 
and  certain  in  rewarding  his  good  conduct.  It  is  a  good  thing 
in  dealing  with  a  stubborn  or  refractory  animal  (or  child)  to 
let  him  get  "good  and  hungry."  It  does  not  take  him  long 
to  learn  to  associate  obedience  with  food,  or  disobedience  with 
hunger. 

Then  it  is  most  important  that  you  never  lie  to  an  animal. 

[39] 


Be  strictly  truthful.  When  you  promise  anything  —  or  by 
forming  a  habit  imply  a  promise— -do  not  fail  to  keep  that 
promise.  If  your  animal  expects  an  apple,  a  carrot,  a  piece 
of  sugar  or  a  frolic  at  the  close  of  his  hour's  training,  do  not 
disappoint  him.  A  horse,  a  child,  instinctively  hates  a  liar. 
One  soon  loses  confidence,  and  where  there  is  no  confidence 
there  can  be  no  pleasure  in  working  together,  and  as  soon  as 
pleasure  goes,  the  work  becomes  a  burden,  a  labor,  a  penalty, 
and  a  curse,  to  be  dreaded,  shunned,  avoided.  So  win  your 
animal's  confidence  and  then  be  sure  to  keep  it. 

When  it  comes  to  actual  teaching  always  be  very  patient, 
never  excited,  always  talk  gently  and  keep  your  voice  pitched 
low,  and  remember  that  all  animals  are  curious,  possess  more 
or  less  of  the  imitative  faculty,  and  have  good  memories.  To 
remember  these  things  is  of  great  importance.  Never  lose 
sight  of  them.  Talk  to  your  animal  as  you  would  to  a  child. 
Whether  you  think  or  believe  he  understands  you,  or  not,  act 
and  talk  as  if  he  did.  Then  show  him  what  you  want  him  to 
do.  Do  it  before  him,  again  and  again.  Thus  you  will  excite 
his  imitative  faculties  and  at  the  same  time,  train  his  memory. 

Occasionally  you  may  be  able  to  give  him  extra  aid.  For 
instance,  you  want  to  teach  your  horse  to  shake  his  head  to 
express  the  idea  No!  When  you  say  No!  tickle  the  horse's 
ear,  and  he  will  shake  his  head.  Then  you  also  shake  your 
head,  and  say  with  emphasis,  No!  Repeat  this  several  times, 
and  you  will  find  that  when  you  say  No !  the  horse  will  shake 
his  head  without  your  having  to  tickle  his  ear.  As  soon  as 
he  responds  to  your  question  with  a  shake  of  the  head  be 
sure  to  pet  and  reward  him  with  a  lump  of  sugar,  at  the  same 
time  talking  encouragingly  to  him. 

Then  repeat  the  process,  again  and  again,  until  it  is  well 
fixed  in  his  memory. 

Every  day  go  over  this  same  thing;  for,  if  you  neglect  what 
he  learns  today  for  a  week  or  two,  it  is  very  possible  he  will 
forget  and  you  will  have  to  begin  afresh.  Review  perpetually, 
until  you  know  that  he  knows. 

In  assisting  him  to  nod  his  head  when  you  want  him  to  sig- 
nify Yes !  when  you  use  the  word  tap  him  under  the  chin. 
This  leads  him  to  throw  his  head  up  and  down.  Soon  he  will 
nod  at  the  mere  saying  of  Yes !  and  later,  he  will  respond  with 
a  nod  when  you  ask  him  a  question  to  which  he  should  reply 
with  the  affirmative. 

Remember  always,  in  all  you  do,  that  you  are  dealing  with 
an  animal  whose  brain  power  is  far  less  than  that  of  an  ordi- 
nary child,  and  be  patient,  kind  and  persevering.  Never  allow 

[40] 


£  3 


3 
o 

s:  5* 
«•  £ 

'o*  « 
3    ' 


yourself  to  believe  the  animal  does  not  possess  intelligence. 
Believe  he  has  it,  hope  he  has  it,  trust  God  that  he  has  it  and 
work  in  that  belief,  hope,  trust,  and  you  will  accomplish  won- 
ders. Faith,  hope  and  love  are  the  abiding  and  moving  powers 
of  life.  With  them  there  is  no  limit  to  what  can  be  done,  for 
they  belong  to  the  infinite. 


[41] 


A  SCIENTIFIC  INVESTIGATION 

It  is  natural  that,  to  those  who  are  skeptical  as  to  a  horse's 
brain  capacity,  there  should  be  some  doubt  as  to  the  reality  of 
Captain's  performances.  Suggestions  of  trickery,  of  Captain's 
being  controlled  by  visual  or  aural  cues  that  are  unobserved 
and  generally  unobservable  by  the  public,  arise  in  the  mind. 
The  skeptic  denies,  positively  and  unquestionably,  any  asser- 
tion of  the  animal's  intelligence.  He  laughs  and  scoffs  at  the 
idea  that  the  horse  really  thinks,  adds,  subtracts,  multiplies 
or  counts ;  that  he  knows  colors ;  that  he  has  any  idea  whatever 
of  tone  values,  or,  indeed,  can  tell  one  note  from  another.  He 
believes  in  suggestions,  or  cues,  or  even  that,  unconsciously, 
Mr.  Sigsbee  hypnotizes  the  horse  and  thus  personally  directs 
all  his  actions,  and  he  does  not  seem  to  see  that  these  involve 
the  explanation  of  mysteries  as  deep  as  the  one  of  animal 
intelligence. 

The  first  thing,  however,  is  to  be  assured  that  the  horse 
actually  does  the  things  it  is  asserted  he  does,  and  that,  as  far 
as  the  trained  and  scientific  observer  can  detect,  there  is  no 
conscious  deception.  In  the  case  of  Captain  this  has  been  done 
by  Dr.  G.  V.  Hamilton,  a  veterinarian,  whom  the  Santa  Barbara 
(Calif.)  Press  asserts  is  "nationally  recognized  as  an  expert  in 
these  avenues  of  investigation."  After  witnessing  a  public 
performance  he  conducted  a  series  of  private  tests  and  from 
the  Press  of  February  27,  1916,  I  quote  the  following  account 
from  Dr.  Hamilton's  pen : 

Several  days  elapsed  between  the  visit  at  which  I  took  the  notes 
recorded  above  and  my  private  interview  with  Captain  and  Mr.  Sigs- 
bee. This  enabled  me  to  plan  various  tests  which  might  enable  me  to 
check  up  on  the  following  possibilities : 

In  performances  of  this  kind  it  is  at  least  possible  for  a  confederate 
to  conceal  himself  behind  the  curtains,  under  the  stage  or  elsewhere, 
and  to  direct  the  activities  of  the  animal. 

A  short  whip  or  stick  might  easily  carry  a  long,  thin,  black  wire, 
which  would  be  invisible  from  the  front  of  the  stage. 

My  experience  with  laboratory  animals  leads  me  to  believe  that  it 
would  be  possible  for  a  shrewd  animal  trainer  to  direct  a  dog's  or  a 
horse's  activities  by  means  of  eye,  facial  muscle  and  bodily  movements 
which  are  of  a  too  slight  excursus  to  be  apparent  to  ordinary  human 
observation.  It  is  not  to  be  forgotten,  in  this  connection,  that  some 

[42] 


dogs  are  notoriously  dependent  on  their  masters  for  directive  cues,  and 
that  this  may  be  characteristic  of  horses  of  a  certain  type. 

It  is  conceivable  that  repetition  of  a  given  routine  over  a  period  of 
years  might  enable  a  horse  to  stereotype  a  highly  complex  set  of  habits. 

On  the  morning  of  my  appointment  with  Mr.  Sigsbee  I  found  the 
horse  in  his  stall,  unattended.  A  colored  groom,  who  seems  to  be  the 
only  person,  other  than  Mr.  Sigsbee,  to  have  any  responsibility  for 
Captain,  shortly  appeared.  He  discussed  the  horse  with  me  without 
manifesting  either  suspiciousness  or  constraint.  A  little  later  Mr.  Sigs- 
bee came  to  the  stall  and  asked  me  to  decide  how  and  where  to  make 
the  tests.  He  seemed  to  be  wholly  unaware  of  the  possibility  that  my 
tests  might  seriously  impair  the  "show"  value  of  his  animal.  I  decided 
to  work  with  the  horse  on  the  stage,  and  to  have  Mr.  Sigsbee  with  me. 
Captain  is  a  nervous,  highly  excitable  animal,  and  I  had  previously  seen 
him  make  a  poor  showing  when  not  in  good  condition,  hence  my  desire 
to  have  the  familiar  presence  of  the  master. 

A  careful  examination  of  the  stage  revealed  no  evidence  of  provision 
for  the  concealment  of  a  confederate,  so  I  had  Captain  led  upon  the 
stage  and  began  my  tests,  which  were  given  in  the  following  order: 

1.  I  asked  him,  "How  do  you  walk  when  you  go  to  see  your  girl?" 
Captain  gave  an  appropriate   response,  although   his  master  was   not 
within  the  horse's  field  of  vision,  and  did  not  carry  his  whip.    Mr.  Sigs- 
bee who   seems  to  have  a  great  affection   for  his   horse,  now   inter- 
polated, "What  do  you  give  me  for  sugar?"    Captain  "kissed"  him. 

2.  At  my  request  Mr.  Sigsbee  asked  Captain  to  play  "Nearer  My 
God  to  Thee."     I  stood  between  horse  and  master  while  the  former 
played  the  chimes  with  but  one  mistake.    He  received  no  direction  for 
this  after  the  initial  command.    Mr.  Sigsbee  then  told  me  that  Captain 
knew  how  to  run  the  scale,  so  I  asked  for  that.     The  horse  made  one 
mistake,  due  to  his  failure  to  strike  the  trip  hammer  opposite  one  of 
the  metal  tubes  with  sufficient  force.     When  he  had  passed  from  the 
low  to  the  high  end  of  the  chimes  his  master  commanded  him  to  "come 
right  back,"  and  this  was  promptly  obeyed.     Still  no  visual  cues.     As 
a  matter  of  fact,  the  horse  seemed  to  pay  almost  no  attention  to  Mr. 
Sigsbee  with  its  eyes,  as  it  were,  but  kept  its  ears  in  almost  constant 
movement. 

3.  The  leather  blindfold  was  now  applied.    There  is  not  the  slightest 
doubt  in  my  mind  as  to  the  entire  adequacy  of  Captain's  blindfold  for 
purposes  of  excluding  visual  stimuli.    At  my  request  Mr.  Sigsbee  stood 
facing  me  and  called  for  2,  9,  3,  1,  and  7  separately  and  in  the  order 
given.     The  horse  stood  where  I  had  previously  decided  to  have  him 
stand,  and  I  made  sure  that  no  directive  stimuli  were  reaching  him 
either  from  the  stage  or  from  the  rear  and  sides. 

He  stamped  twice  for  "2,"  nine  for  "9,"  etc.,  until  this  test  was  com- 
pleted. The  only  mistake  occured  when,  in  response  to  the  command 
to  "give  us  three"  he  stamped  three  times  and  struck  his  toe  on  return- 
ing his  foot  to  the  standing  position.  His  master  accused  him  of  this 
mistake  and  Captain  gave  us  three  clean-cut  taps. 

4.  I  gave  the  command,  "Give  me  your  right  foot,"  "Give  me  your 
left  foot,"  "Put  your  head  down  and  bite  your  right  knee,"  and  "Scratch 
your  head."     He  responded  appropriately,  although  it  was  necessary 
for  me  to  repeat  these  commands  to  satisfy  the  inquiry  contained  in 
Captain's   wiggling  ears.     Mr.    Sigsbee    stood   by   my   side,   a   wholly 
negligible  factor  for  the  moment.     I  am  thoroughly  satisfied  that  Cap- 
tain's activities  were  solely  directed  by  my  commands. 

5.  Captain,  still  blindfolded,  was  given  the  following  problems  by 

[43] 


his  master,  from  whom  I  had  concealed  my  program.  It  seemed  to  be 
difficult  for  the  horse  to  follow  my  unfamiliar  voice,  and  since  Mr. 
Sigsbee  was  invisible  to  the  horse  and  wholly  under  my  control  I 
decided  to  employ  him  as  interlocutor: 

"Divide  ten  equally  between  your  two  feet,  the  first  half  with  your 
right  foot,  the  second  half  with  your  left  foot." 

Captain  stamped  five  times  with  his  right  foot,  then  pawed  tentatively, 
apparently  in  doubt  as  to  the  correctness  of  his  answer,  and  awaiting 
a  cue.  He  received  no  cue,  and  soon  withdrew  his  right  foot  to  the 
standing  position  and  tapped  five  times  with  the  left  foot.  His  master 
accused  him  of  inaccuracy,  telling  him  that  he  "got  one  too  many"  with 
his  right  foot.  Captain  corrected  his  mistake  by  giving  us  a  clean-cut 
and  accurate  response. 

"Divide  twelve  equally  between  your  two  feet,  the  first  half  with  the 
right  foot,  the  second  half  with  your  left  foot." 

This  command  elicited  a  perfect  response. 

"How  much  is  three  times  three  ?" 

A  perfect  response  was  again  obtained.  Captain  gave  nine  taps  with 
his  right  forefoot. 

"How  much  is  two  times  two?"     I  gave  this  command. 

Captain  tapped  four  times,  stopped,  and  began  to  paw  in  a  doubtful 
manner.  His  master  scolded  him  for  this,  and  he  tried  it  again,  but 
again  at  the  end  of  four  taps,  hesitated  and  pawed.  Mr.  Sigbsee  told 
him  he  knew  better  than  that,  and  commanded  him  to  try  again.  I  gave 
the  problem  clearly,  and  obtained  a  correct  and  clean-cut  response. 

6.  Mr.  Sigsbee  was  instructed  to  give  the  following  commands : 
"Pump." 

'Reverse." 

"Laugh." 

"Say  'Yes'/' 

"Wiggle  your  ears." 

"Scratch  your  head." 

"Stick  out  your  tongue." 

"Stretch  out  like  a  hobby  horse." 

I  showed  this  list  of  written  commands  to  Mr.  Sigsbee,  but  instead  of 
following  my  instructions  he  urged  me  to  give  them  myself.  It  is  still 
a  source  of  surprise  to  me  that  this  horse,  while  blindfolded  and  with 
no  directive  cues  from  his  master  (Mr.  Sigsbee  stood  beside  me  and 
neither  moved  nor  spoke),  responded  appropriately  to  these  commands. 
It  was  necessary  for  me  to  repeat  only  one  command — the  last  one. 

7.  At  my  direction  Mr.  Sigsbee  tied  the  white  strip  of  cloth  to  the 
blindfolded  horse's  left  hind  leg,  and  the  red  cloth  to  his  right  foreleg. 
At  the  end  of  this  performance  he  cautioned  Captain  again  and  again 
not  to  forget  that  the  "white  rag  is  on  your  hind  leg — here   (patting 
the  left  hind  leg),  and  the  red  rag  is  on  your  foreleg."     After  much 
patting  of  both  legs  and  many  warnings  against  forgetting,  Mr.  Sigsbee 
withdrew  and  allowed  me  to  decide  upon  the  command.     I  called  for 
the  red  strip,  and  Captain  obeyed  without  displaying  the  least  hesitation. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  on  a  previous  occasion  he  found  the  red 
strip  on  his  hind  leg. 

8.  The  blindfold  was  now  removed,  and  was  not  reapplied.    Correct 
responses  were  obtained  to  the  commands,  "Bring  me  a  silver  dollar" 
and  "Bring  me  a  quarter."    Mr.  Sigsbee  stood  where  it  was  impossible 
for  him  to  direct  Captain's  choice  by  pointing  with  eyes,  facial  muscles 
or  body. 

9.  I  arranged  the  numerals  in  the  number  rack  in  the  following 
[44] 


order:  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9,  0.  Mr.  Sigsbee  stood  behind  the  horse 
and  gave  the  following  command: 

"How  many  people  are  there  in  the  front  row  ?" 

Mrs.  Hamilton  was  the  only  "audience"  for  the  performance,  and 
sat  in  the  front  row  from  the  moment  when  Captain  was  brought  upon 
the  stage.  The  horse  responded  to  the  command  by  advancing  to  the 
railing  over  the  footlights,  extending  his  head  and  neck  far  forward 
and  examining  the  front  row  of  seats.  He  followed  this  by  backing 
vigorously  and  pulling  number  "1"  from  the  rack.  In  a  flash  of 
inspiration  I  asked,  "How  many  people  are  there  in  the  second  row?" 
Captain  walked  forward  again,  looked  into  the  second  row  and  shook 
his  head.  I  am  glad  that  I  have  Mrs.  Hamilton  and  my  note  book 
to  remind  me  that  this  occurred  when  I  was  wide  awake  and  in  a  very 
critical  frame  of  mind.  Mr.  Sigsbee  was  standing  to  my  left  and  the 
horse  was  to  my  right  and  several  feet  in  front  of  us  when  this  oc- 
curred. I  expressed  my  unwillingness  to  believe  my  own  senses,  and 
Mr.  Sigsbee  quite  seriously  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  horse  had 
been  influenced  by  the  master's  mind  to  shake  his  head. 

10.  I  eliminated  Mr.  Sigsbee  by  placing  him  where  I  could  keep  my 
eye  on  him,  but  where  he  was  outside  the  horse's  field  of  vision.    Then 
I  commanded  Captain  to  bring  me  number  "6"  from  the  rack.     He 
obeyed  and  followed  this  by  bringing  me  "4,"  "9,"  and  "7." 

11.  I  exchanged  "1"  and  "4"  and  commanded  Captain  to  tell  me  how 
many  people  were  in  the  front  row.    He  brought  me  number  "1." 

12.  Mr.  Sigsbee,  at  my  direction,  gave  Captain  the  number,  "30,724." 
The  numbers  in  the  rack  were  in  the  unfamiliar  order,  "1,  2,  3,  4,  5, 
6,  7,  8,  9,  0."    By  obstructing  Captain's  view  of  his  master  I  was  able 
to  eliminate  the  possibility  of  directing  gaze-cues  from  master  to  horse. 
Long  experience  with  my  quadruple  choice  method  has  enabled  me  to 
control  the  movements  of  my  ocular  muscles,  and  to  depend  a  good 
deal  on  peripheral  vision,  so  that  I  am  sure  that  I  did  not  involuntarily 
direct  the  horse  during  this  test. 

Captain  promptly  pulled  "3"  from  the  rack,  pulled  "8"  part  way  out 
and  let  go  before  he  had  fully  withdrawn  it,  then  withdrew  "0,"  "7," 
"2,"  and  "4"  in  rapid  succession. 

13.  I  put  "4,"  "1,"  and  "8"  on  the  floor,  sent  Mr.  Sigsbee  to  the 
rear  of  the  stage  and  gave  the  following  commands: 

"Two  times  nine." 

"Seven  times  twelve." 

"Nine  times  nine." 

The  horse  took  up  "1"  and  "8"  in  the  response  to  the  first  command, 
and  dropped  them.  I  arranged  the  three  numbers  in  the  same  order  in 
which  they  lay  on  the  floor  before  the  first  command  was  given  ("4 
was  at  the  left  end,  "1"  in  the  middle  and  "8"  at  the  right  end.)  The 
second  command  was  given,  and  answered  correctly,  without  hesitation. 
I  now  reversed  the  positions  of  "4"  and  "8"  and  gave  the  third  com- 
mand, which  was  also  answered  correctly. 

14.  After  I  had  rearranged  the  colored  strips  on  the  color  rack  so 
that  black  and  white  were  near  the  middle  (it  will  be  remembered  that 
they  were  end  strips  during  the  public  performance),  directed  Mr.  Sigs- 
bee to  command  Captain  to  match  Mrs.  Hamilton's  garments. 

Captain  went  as  far  forward  on  the  stage  as  he  could  go,  craned  his 
neck  forward,  and  closely  scrutinized  Mrs.  Hamilton.  At  the  com- 
mand, "Match  the  color  of  the  lady's  hat"  (Mr.  Sigsbee  gave  these  com- 
mands), Captain  went  to  the  color  rack,  which  was  close  to  and  near 
the  middle  of  the  right  wing,  and  took  the  black  strip  in  his  teeth. 
(Correct.)  His  master  stood  behind  him,  facing  Mrs.  Hamilton,  who 

[45] 


sat  in  the  first  row  as  "audience."  Following  this  the  horse  matched 
the  white  waist,  tan  gloves  and  black  pocketbook. 

I  now  engaged  Mr.  Sigsbee  in  a  conversation  as  to  how  he  had 
trained  his  horse  to  match  colors,  when  Mrs.  Hamilton  called  to  Cap- 
tain, "Can  you  match  this?"  Captain  nodded  his  head  and  came  up 
to  the  rack  and  took  the  yellow  strip  in  his  teeth.  Neither  Mr.  Sigsbee 
nor  I  saw  the  pencil,  and  even  when  Mrs.  Hamilton  told  us  that  it  was 
a  pencil  I  could  not  tell  its  colors  from  where  Mr.  Sigsbee  and  I  stood, 
since  the  audience  room  was  dimly  lighted.  On  our  way  to  the  exposi- 
tion that  morning  Mrs.  Hamilton  and  I  jested  about  my  pencil-stealing 
proclivities,  and  I  had  reminded  her  that  I  had  returned  her  red-white- 
and-blue  pencil.  This  accounts  for  the  certainty  with  which  I  declared 
that  Captain  had  taken  the  wrong  color  until  Mrs.  Hamilton  showed 
me  that  her  pencil  was  really  a  yellow  one. 

Captain  had  grown  frfendly  toward  me,  and  as  he  stood  facing  me, 
apparently  inviting  attention,  I  said,  "Match  my  necktie"  and  pointed 
to  my  red  tie.  He  promptly  pulled  the  red  strip  from  the  rack.  Mr. 
Sigsbee  was  definitely  behind  Captain  when  this  occurred. 

Although  my  examination  of  Captain  was  too  brief  to  justify  me  in 
presenting  this  as  more  than  a  preliminary  report,  there  are  a  few 
tentative  conclusions  which  I  have  drawn  from  it,  and  which  I  wish 
to  present  for  the  consideration  of  persons  who  may  be  interested  in 
the  training  feats  of  men  like  von  Osten,  Krall,  and  Sigsbee. 

1.  The  inquiring  liveliness  of  Captain's  ears  and  the  freedom  with 
which  Mr.  Sigsbee  employs  verbal  directions  when  the  horse  is  tired 
and  inattentive  suggests  the  possibility  that  this  animal  may  receive 
auditory  cues  that  are  given  involuntarily  by  his  master.    It  is  not  only 
conceivable  but  even  likely  that  Captain  is  sensitive  to  changes  in  his 
master's  respiratory  sounds.     A  spasmodic  inspiration,  a  faint  sigh  or 
a   sudden   quickening  of   respiration   might   easily   serve   as   cues    for 
Captain.     One  need  only  translate  Rendlich's  and  Pfungst's  explana- 
tion of  Hans'  behavior  from  visual  into  auditory  terms  to  arrive  at  a 
fairly  satisfying  guess  as  to  how  it  is  possible  for  Captain  to  perform 
his  wonderful  feats. 

2.  My  observations,  although  incomplete  and  inconclusive  in  many 
respects,  have  convinced  me  that  Captain  can  give  correct  answers  in 
entire  independence  of  directive  visual  stimuli.    There  was  no  trickery 
about  his  blindfold:     Captain  wore  a  leather  mask  which  so  well  ex- 
cluded the  light  that  he  had  to  be  led  from  place  to  place  on  the  stage. 
Even  when  he  was  not  blindfolded,  and  seemed  to  be  keen  to  under- 
stand and  to  obey  them  correctly,  he  attended  only  with  his  ears. 

3.  I  am  convinced  that  Mr.  Sigsbee  is  sincere  in  his  belief  that 
Captain  is  capable  of  abstract  thought,  and  that  he  resorts  to  no  trick- 
ery in  his  public  performances.  It  is  also  gratifying  to  know  that  he 
is  of  the  hard-headed  type  to  whom  a  scientifically  established  explana- 
tion would  be  acceptable,  even  though  it  might  run  counter  to  his  own 
presuppositions.  If  it  proves  to  be  the  case  that  his  horse  is  accessible 
to  stimuli  to  which  human  ears  are  obtuse,  and  that  master  as  well  as 
public  has  been  literally  "taken  in"  by  horse-cleverness  the  humorous 
aspect  of  the  situation  will  appeal  to  him.  From  a  purely  commercial 
standpoint  he  need  have  no  fear  as  to  the  "show"  value  of  a  horse 
which  can  beat  a  crafty  old  trainer  at  his  own  game  by  training  the 
master  to  give  such  exquisitely  delicate  cues  that  the  master  himself  is 
not  aware  of  giving  them.  It  is  not  surprising  that  Mr.  Sigsbee  had 
to  fall  back  upon  telepathic  explanations. 

[46] 


CAPTAIN'S  PRAYER  OF  THANKSGIVING 

Prayer  assumes  two  forms,  the  one  of  petition  that  blessings 
may  be  bestowed  upon  the  petitioner,  the  other  of  thanksgiving 
for  the  blessings  so  bestowed.  Several  years  ago  a  "Horse's 
Prayer"  was  published  in  the  newspapers.  It  was  a  prayer  of 
petition.  But — presupposing  the  possession  by  the  horse  of 
intelligence  and  power  to  formulate  prayer — Captain  has  never 
had  to  ask  for  most  of  the  things  set  forth  in  this  prayer.  His 
kind  master  has  freely  accorded  them  to  him,  so  Captain's 
prayer  is  one  of  thankfulness.  But  every  owner  of  a  horse 
can  convert  this  prayer  into  one  of  petition  by  applying  it  to 
his  own  horse  and  seeing  whether  he  is  treating  his  animal  as 
Captain  is  being  treated : 

My  Dear  Master,  I  thank  thee  for  all  thy  goodness  to 
me  all  the  days  of  my  life.  Thou  hast  given  me  good, 
clean,  nutritious  food,  plenty  of  water,  perfect  shelter,  clean 
dry  bedding,  and  a  stall  wide  enough  for  me  to  lie  down  in 
with  comfort.  Every  day  my  hair  and  skin  have  been 
brushed  and  cleaned,  my  nostrils  washed  out,  and  my  mane 
and  tail  kept  free  from  burrs,  tangles  and  dirt. 

You  and  the  men  you  have  employed  to  attend  me  have 
always  been  kind  to  me.  You  have  talked  gently  to,  and 
not  shouted  at,  me.  You  have  soothed  me  many  times  by 
the  kind  and  assuring  tones  of  your  voice.  When  I  have 
been  nervous  and  afraid,  instead  of  shouting  at  me,  or 
whipping  me,  your  gentle  words  have  quieted  and  encour- 
aged me.  You  have  petted  and  caressed  me  and  made  me 
feel  the  joy  of  serving  you  because  I  love  you.  While  you 
have  been  firm  with  me  and  made  me  do  my  work,  you 
have  never  demanded  more  than  I  was  able  to  give.  You 
have  never  jerked  my  reins,  and  thus  made  my  mouth  sore, 
or  cruelly  whipped  me  as  I  have  seen  drivers  do  when  their 
horses  were  pulling  heavy  loads  up  hill.  You  have  always 
endeavored  to  explain  what  you  have  wanted  me  to  do,  and 
have  not  whipped,  kicked,  beaten,  or  cursed  me  when  I  did 
not  understand.  You  have  been  kind  in  teaching  me,  gen- 
tle in  bearing  with  my  ignorance  and  mistakes,  and  patient 
when  I  have  been  slow  to  learn.  When  I  did  not  obey  you 
instantly,  you  have  looked  over  my  harness,  my  bridle,  or 
my  hoofs  to  see  that  nothing  was  amiss. 

You  have  never  checked  up  my  head  so  that  my  neck 

[47] 


was  stiff  and  unable  to  move  with  freedom,  and  you  have 
never  cursed  me  with  blinders  that  rubbed  my  eyelashes, 
were  too  close  to  my  eyes,  and  that  prevented  me  from 
looking  behind  me,  as  the  great  Creator  intended  I  should 
do. 

You  have  never  overloaded,  or  overworked  me;  never 
hitched  me  where  water  could  drop  on  me,  or  where  I  had 
to  stand  too  long  in  the  wet,  and  if  it  was  cold  weather 
you  have  always  covered  me  with  a  blanket.  My  feet  have 
always  been  well  shod ;  you  have  always  examined  my  teeth 
to  see  that  they  were  kept  in  good  condition,  and  never 
allowed  "fox  tails"  to  pierce  my  gums  and  make  my  mouth 
sore.  You  have  never  been  so  wicked  and  cruel  as  to  cut 
away  my  tail  so  that  I  could  not  defend  myself  from  flies 
and  mosquitoes,  and  at  night  or  day  time,  you  have  never 
tied  my  head  up  so  tightly  that  it  was  in  an  unnatural 
position  and  prevented  me  from  moving  it  easily,  or  lying 
down  to  sleep. 

You  have  always  seen  that  I  had  plenty  of  clean  and 
cool  water  to  drink,  day  and  night,  and  you  have  watched 
me  with  care  so  that  I  should  not  get  sick.  While  I  love 
the  warm  sun  you  have  not  tied  me  where,  when  it  was 
very  hot,  I  could  get  no  shelter.  In  winter  time  you  have 
never  allowed  a  frosty  bit  to  be  put  in  my  mouth. 

And  though  I  am  still  young  and  healthy  and  apparently 
not  likely  to  become  feeble  and  useless  for  many  years  to 
come,  the  kindness  you  have  already  shown  me  assures  me 
that  when  I  do  lose  my  strength  and  ability  you  will  not 
turn  me  out  into  some  poor  pasture  where  I  may  starve  or 
freeze,  or  sell  me  to  some  human  brute  who  will  whip 
and  torture  me  to  get  the  last  fragment  of  work  out  of  me, 
while  he  slowly  starves  me  to  death  with  poor  and  insuf- 
ficient food.  If  it  is  impossible  to  put  me  where  I  shall 
have  proper  food  and  shelter  I  know  you  will  mercifully, 
kindly,  and  swiftly  take  my  life,  and  thus,  even  in  the  hour 
of  death,  I  shall  thank  you  with  my  whole  heart. 

And,  though  I  am  a  horse,  I  am  sure  you  have  remem- 
bered that  God  is  my  Father  and  Creator  as  well  as  yours, 
or  I  should  not  be  here,  and  that  His  Son  said  that  His 
Heavenly  Father  cared  even  for  the  sparrows,  two  of  which 
were  sold  for  a  farthing,  and  that  He  himself  ever  sancti- 
fied a  stable  by  the  fact  that  He  was  born  in  one  and  cradled 
in  the  manger  at  Bethlehem.  So,  In  His  Name,  I  give  you 
thanks  for  all  your  kindness  to  me,  recalling  to  your  mem- 
ory His  words  that  "inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  the 
least  of  these,  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto  Me." 

[48]  —Amen. 


••s 


II 
I 


A  ! 

E  -o 


II 


II 

60  t^ 


c   c 

3  « 

a  a 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
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OVERDUE. 


AUG 


1944 


JAM  14 1947 


YC   16073 


DD20  15M  A-02 


